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After almost 20 years of growth, the Korean film market has become one of the largest and most stable exhibition industries in the world, ranking sixth in annual receipts despite ranking only 27th in population, and foreign film studios have taken notice. Until recently, the local scene was dominated by domestic film giants including CJ Entertainment, Lotte Entertainment, Showbox and Next Entertainment World but now the Korean film scene is in the midst of slow but radical change as foreign film companies have also set their sights on the country.

 

Hollywood has long counted on Korea as a strong exhibition market for their major titles, and foreign filmmakers have frequently snapped up remake rights to Korean titles, though these met with muted critical and commercial success. However, after seeing the consistent dominance of local titles at the Korean box office, which generally account for over half of the year’s theatrical admissions, US companies have begun to set their sights on producing local, Korean-language content.

 

 

As far back as 2009, Hollywood began to invest in Korean productions. The first case was PARK Chan-wook’s vampire thriller Thirst, which was invited to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. Though made and released by CJ Entertainment, the film was partially financed by Universal International Productions. However, in the seven years following that film’s release UIP has yet to wade into the Korean market a second time.

 

The first US company to launch into full Korean productions was 20th Century Fox. They initially dipped their toes in the market when they partly financed NA Hong-jin’s The Yellow Sea, with KIM Yun-seok and HA Jung-woo. The film, also financed and distributed by local major Showbox, was invited to the Cannes Film Festival and was a modest hit in 2010 with 2.26 million admissions. Following that endeavour, the company embarked on their first fully-financed Korean title, through their subsidiary Fox International Productions (FIP), with the action-thriller Running Man, from The Restless (2006) director CHO Dong-oh and starring SHIN Ha-kyun. Though not a critical success, the film attracted a respectable 1.42 million viewers at the Korean box office in 2013, though fell just shy of its break-even point.

 

Even before Running Man’s release, FIP was already hard at work on their second full Korean title, the comedy Slow Video, demonstrating their ambitions in the market. Though reuniting the director (KIM Young-tak) and star (CHA Tae-hyun) of horror romantic comedy hit Hello Ghost (2010), the film was another so-so performer at the local box office, mustering just 1.17 million admissions in 2014.

 

At this point, FIP were already involved in two more Korean films, this time from famed local auteurs. The first of these to see the light of day was Intimate Enemies in 2015, an action-comedy from IM Sang-soo, a former participant at the Venice International Film Festival (A Good Lawyer’s Wife, 2003) and Cannes Film Festival (The Housemaid, 2010; The Taste of Money, 2012). Unfortunately, the film became the most poorly received title of the director’s career and was a commercial misfire, earning less than USD 1 million from 134,000 admissions.

 

 

After FIP’s mixed fortunes, Hollywood’s experiments in Korea appeared to be stalling, yet 2016 has proven to be an auspicious year, with several new companies wading into the field and US-financed Korean films experiencing hefty box office success. While Fox’s first experiments were mid-level commercial genre titles with overtly familiar elements that failed to distinguish them from the rest of the field, the Hollywood-produced titles seen this year and coming up in the near future are bolder, more ambitious and drawing plenty of attention with their unique stories, looks and combination of highly artistic and saleable Korean cast and crew.

 

First to bat this year was once again FIP with their fourth local production, the critically-acclaimed horror THE WAILING from NA Hong-jin. Concurrently debuting at Cannes and on local screens, the film went on to gross a phenomenal 6.88 million admissions. A unique film that surprised and unsettled audiences, THE WAILING definitively put FIP on the map in Korea. The film’s success had much to do with its fresh appeal and while it might have come together at another company, reports indicate that director NA experienced an unusual level of freedom with 20th Century Fox, which allowed him plenty of time to complete his vision and posed no creative interference.

 

Fox are currently in pre-production on their fifth Korean film, the period action thriller Opposition Forces, with LEE Jung-jae and YEO Jin-gu. From Marathon (2005) director CHUNG Yoon-chul, the film begins shooting on September 5th and will be released in 2017.

 

Marking their first Korean foray in 2016 is Warner Bros. with KIM Jee-woon’s highly anticipated Colonial Era action-thriller The Age of Shadows with SONG Kang-ho and GONG Yoo. Already invited to screen at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, among several others, the film has already drawn massive critical acclaim ahead of its September 7th release. Timed for the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) holiday and featuring two big box office stars, especially following GONG’s appearance in summer smash TRAIN TO BUSAN, the film is expected to perform well on the charts.

 

Clearly confident with their debut well ahead of its opening, Warner Bros. are already in production on their second film, the thriller Single Rider with LEE Byung-hun and KONG Hyo-jin from debut director LEE Joo-young and is in pre-production on a third title, Bad Lieutenant for The Man From Nowhere (2010) director LEE Jeong-beom. Furthermore, Warner Bros. have announced their intentions to produce 2-4 titles per year in the market going forward.

 

Then of course there’s the global talk of the current film industry, internet giant Netflix, which has launched several local productions all around the world. The streaming service has already worked on some shows that have partly shot in Korea, including The Wachowskis-helmed sci-fi series Sense8 with local star BAE Doo-na but has now recently completed production on BONG Joon-ho’s high-concept Okja, which is shaping up to be one of the company’s most ambitious original film productions to date.

 

Fully financed by Netflix with a reported but unconfirmed budget in excess of USD 50 million, Okja is an English and Korean language production that features western superstars such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Tilda Swinton and Paul Dano, alongside Korean actors such as CHOI Woo-shik, BYUN Hee-bong, YOON Je-moon and new child actress AHN Seo-hyun. Netflix will release the film in early 2017 with a limited theatrical run in the United States. It is currently unclear what kind of theatrical release the film will receive in other markets.

 

While the commercial prospects of some of these companies remain unclear for the moment, there’s no doubt that their presence is sending shockwaves throughout the industry. Filmmakers are taking notice and curious about exploring new financing avenues with potentially different creative and contractual obligations while local studios are curiously looking on to see how the fortunes of these incoming outfits could affect their own business models in the near future.