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As we close out another big year for Korean films, in which local admissions topped 100 million for the fourth consecutive time and homegrown titles experienced unprecedented success on the global stage, it’s time to look back on what were the big events for one of the world’s healthiest film industries and the themes and stories that drove the nation’s filmmakers. Read on to discover KoBiz’s list of the top Korean film trends in 2016:

 

Hollywood has long had its eye on Korea but 2016 was the year that saw them fully immerse themselves within the Korean film industry. Prior to this year, American production companies have snagged several remake rights, wooed top personnel such as PARK Chan-wook and KIM Jee-woon to make Hollywood films and 20th Century Fox have dabbled in Korean film production to varying degrees of success. With their fourth Korean work co-financed by Ivanhoe Pictures, Fox finally cracked the market with their smash hit horror-thriller THE WAILING which accrued 6.88 million viewers (USD 46.61 million). The film, which bowed at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition, is the third by celebrated auteur NA Hong-jin.

Finding an even quicker path to success was fellow Hollywood major Warner Bros. Entering the market for the very first time, the company scored one of the year’s biggest hits with their Chuseok season release The Age of Shadows. From acclaimed filmmaker KIM Jee-woon, the Colonial Era spy action-thriller received great reviews out of the Venice Film Festival and amassed 7.5 million viewers (USD 51.12 million). 

2017 may prove to be an even more auspicious year for Hollywood players as Netflix gets ready to launch their globe-trotting BONG Joon-ho thriller Okja in the summer while Warners Bros. release their LEE Byung-hun starring thriller Single Rider on February 23rd and the PARK Hoon-jung-directed V.I.P. later in the year. Meanwhile, Fox will release their period title The Proxy Soldiers with LEE Jung-jae and YEO Jin-gu.

Acclaimed indie animator YEON Sang-ho switched to live action filmmaking this year with the zombie thriller TRAIN TO BUSAN which already seemed like a success after scoring a midnight screening invite to the Cannes Film Festival, but few could imagine just how far it would go. After scoring the biggest opening day of all time at the Korean box office in July, the action-thriller set several records before finishing up its run with 11 million admissions, the highest total of the year and 11th best of all time.

Yet the film’s most impressive results were yet to come, as the film reached unprecedented heights on the charts in several international markets. It quickly became the best-selling Korean title in Asian countries such as Taiwan (USD 10 million), the Philippines (USD 6 million), Malaysia (USD 5.2 million), Singapore (USD 4 million), even going so far as to become the most successful Asian film of all time in Hong Kong, beating out any Chinese language film that has ever opened there with USD 9.3 million. With well over USD 40 million banked around the world, the film is now the most successful Korean film ever on the international field. This distinction was recognized at the first International Film Festival and Awards Macao, where it was given the title of Asian blockbuster of the year.

Out of the more than 50 commercial Korean films released last year, only ROH Deok’s The Exclusive : Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, was helmed by a woman. That number increased to four this year, with the releases of Like for Likes, The Truth Beneath, MISSING and Will You Be There?. While the ratio is still below 10%, women directors were far more prominent this year on the awards circuit and several independent cineastes, such as YOON Ga-eun (The World of Us) and LEE Hyun-ju (Our Love Story), also stood out in a big way, both domestically and at numerous overseas festivals.

While The World of Us had a successful run as an independent film, there were no major titles this year by women which broke out in a major way, which given the strong critical marks and awards body attention given to some of them, highlights the continued difficulties for women directors in the Korean film industry. Like for Likes and Will You Be There? were romantic titles primarily aimed at female audiences but with MISSING and The Truth Beneath, the directors sought to engage wider audiences with strong female character, played by performers such as UHM Ji-won, KONG Hyo-jin and SON Ye-jin, engaging in dark thriller narratives which encompassed several societal and political overtones. 

With new titles by directors SHIN Su-won and YIM Soon-rye on the way, as well as LEE Joo-young’s debut Single Rider being financed by Warner Bros., perhaps 2017 will bring women filmmakers the recognition they deserve to audiences beyond the small critical and industrial voices that have championed them until now.

While disaster films were a uniquely 2016 trend, the most prevalent styles of film to come out throughout the year remained Japanese Occupation Era films and modern narratives highlighting corruption themes. Going back into the past were a wide array of Colonial Era narratives which each welcomed success for different reasons. 

These included PARK Chan-wook’s erotic thriller The Handmaiden, KIM Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows, the crowd-funded comfort women drama Spirits’ Homecoming, LEE Joon-ik’s black and white indie biopic DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet, and HUR Jin-ho’s drama The Last Princess. 

Following the smash successes of Veteran and Inside Men last year, more films benefitted from audiences’ anger with the disparity between the unscrupulous haves and helpless have-nots in society reflected through new thrillers such as A Violent Prosecutor, Asura : The City of Madness and Master throughout the year.

The Colonial time period will once again be featured in RYOO Seung-wan’s action-thriller Battleship Island and the mystery The Tooth and the Nail next year but there are signs the trend may be coming to its end with several new big-budget titles opting to revive an older trend instead, tales of spy intrigue involving North Korea.