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On April 8th, KOFIC released the Korean Film Industry Statistics Report for the 2014 first quarter, which contains a noteworthy table. It is the table of “the top ten foreign box office hits.” With blockbusters like Frozen, Noah, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and 300: Rise of an Empire sweeping the chart on the top of the list, the bottom ranks The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Wolf of Wall Street and the German animation Tarzan 3D. Perhaps this chart correctly reflects the whereabouts of foreign movies in the Korean film industry today. Non-blockbusters and non-Hollywood movies have completely disappeared from the box office.
 
The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis (0.14 million viewers), the Academy Award winner for Best Actor Dallas Buyers’ Club (68,000 viewers), the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s A Late Quartet (0.1 million viewers), WONG Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (0.1 million viewers), Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love (0.18 million viewers), and David O Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook which has earned $130 million USD in North America alone (0.13 million viewers) are classified as diversity films at the Korean box office. ‘Diversity films’ is an umbrella term for independent films, art films, documentaries, etc., and this term has been widely used since 2007. You may wonder why these films are classified as diversity films. The truth is, these films are distributed in limited screens, and as a result, the numbers of viewers are pretty humble as seen in the brackets. 

 

 

However, Hollywood non-blockbusters are still doing better than other foreign films. “The Korean box office is largely divided into two categories, Korean and American. The percentage of audience shares is 49.1% for Korean films and 50.9% for foreign films, of which American films are 44.5%.” This is how KOFIC analyzed the first quarter of 2014 for the foreign film market in Korea. Clear preferences for Korean and Hollywood (blockbuster) films are shown with an extreme distortion among different countries. “(In the Korean film market,) except for European films at 4.2% and Japanese films at 1.4%, China and other countries each take up less than 1.0% of the box office, which shows the extreme dominance of Korean and American films.”

 

That said, the number of foreign films released has constantly been increasing. At first the curve was moderate with 194 foreign films in 2004 and 215 in 2005, but the 289 in 2011 jumped to 456 in 2012 and then 722 in 2013 with yet another sharp leap. The policy research team in KOFIC analyzed this phenomenon and said: “Since 2011, films for diverse groups of viewers have been increasing, and rather than profit from tickets sold at the theater, added value of online markets such as the IPTV market is also considered to be very important. So many films are released, although quite briefly.” However, since 2009, the number of viewers and the profits of diversity films have been constantly decreasing. Why?

 

“Hollywood blockbusters and well made domestic films have augmented the expectations of viewers. Films are not the kind of products that you repeatedly buy: you expect them to be already perfect at the time of purchase. Also, the screen monopolization of blockbusters and the increase in ticket prices have also been part of the reasons. Things will not be much different in the future either. The market for small foreign movies has practically disappeared,” says KIM Ki-sun, a board member of Wide Release Ltd. 

 

However, efforts are still being made to enhance diversity in Korean theaters by introducing a variety of foreign films. The Busan International Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival now distribute films themselves so that good movies may have a chance to meet audiences. CGV, a cinema chain, is running a theater designated for art movies and operating various programs. A new foreign film distributor has launched, too. The people at Wide Release Ltd are hoping for “reasonable and fair distribution which may lead to small yet successful films, because each movie has its own appropriate distribution size. Not every movie is a blockbuster.“ Their launch in this bleak foreign film market is especially noteworthy because of their interesting line-up. Last April, they started business with the release of the Elijah Wood and John Cusack classic thriller Grand Piano and the Japanese animation Anne of Green Gables Digest Version. Grand Piano was a rare type of thriller, tapping into the curiosity of audiences for classic music, which was first initiated by the TV show Beethoven Virus in Korea, which was influenced by the Japanese manga Nodame Kantabire a few years ago, and clicked again recently with another TV show called Mil-hoe. Anne of Green Gables Digest Version appealed to viewers in their 30s and 40s, who saw the TV series animation with the same title when they were young. “Basically, the films should have some degree of commercial and marketing appeal. But what is more important is to choose the kind of films whose target audience is clear, that can generate some kind of bonding with viewers.” This company is preparing to release The Trials of Cate McCall, a court drama featuring Kate Beckinsale; Joe, the winner of the 2013 Venice International Film Festival; Cold in July, which was warmly received at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and the Japanese animation One-piece series and Anpanman.

 

Recently, Her was a moderate hit, following The Grand Budapest Hotel which attracted 0.76 million viewers, which may be a sign to let us anticipate the good performance of foreign films in the near future. However, a few good releases are not enough to transform the entire shape of the foreign film market, which has structural issues. “As diversity films are increasing in numbers, the competition over screens is getting harder, and even if they win screens, they are not likely to be screened at prime times. The stance for diversity films is getting narrower and narrower. It would be necessary to redefine diversity films and art films, and review and discuss the cultural policy to support them, so that the overall film market and diversity film market can both grow.” Likewise, the KOFIC report clearly addresses the problem. Then it is perhaps time for the players in the industry to gather up and get down to work, to make a real difference. 

 

By SONG Soon-jin