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Korea’s film industry in 2014 fostered quite a number of issues. The total box office ticket sales surpassed one hundred million for the third year in a row where Roaring Currents grabbed the highest grossing Korean film record up to date. Industry-wise exchange was active in the Chinese market while the new term ‘artbuster’ was coined in the exhibition arena. Costume dramas also became the leading genre of Korean commercial cinema. Here are the top 10 issues of the Korean film industry in 2014.

 

A total of six costume dramas were released in Korea including The Huntresses, The Fatal Encounter, KUNDO: Age of the Rampant, Roaring Currents, The Pirates, and The Royal Tailor.  The numbers may not seem so substantial, but looking at their total production costs and box office scores, these films cannot be taken lightly. The November statistics show costume dramas attracting 35.38 million in ticket sales, a 37.3% of total ticket sales (94.78 million) with four titles ranking in the Korean top ten box office runnings. Especially, for this year’s summer releases, KUNDO: Age of the Rampant (released July 23rd), Roaring Currents (released July 30th), and The Pirates (released August 6th) ran strong in theaters. Opening a week apart one after the other, these three films stretched their popular running streak into the fall market with a total ticket sales of 31.05 million and taking 52% in July and 78% in August in total Korean film market earnings.

The costume drama genre is currently becoming the Korean flag bearer of what is considered a ‘franchise movie’ in Hollywood. This genre comes out in particular seasons and has become an attraction while boasting large-scale spectacle visuals. The popularity seems to come from the Korean audience’s familiarity with the genre but also containing room for audiences to push imagination to the fullest. In addition, the period film can be mixed with other genres to increase box office value and expand target audiences. Such examples can be seen in political thriller The Fatal Encounter, social issue-combining action KUNDO: Age of the Rampant, war film based on historical facts Roaring Currents, and adventure comedy The Pirates. Also, The Royal Tailor offers extravagant visual pleasure through its costumes. 

2015 will also showcase several Korean costume dramas. LEE Byung-hun and JEON Do-yeon-starring Memories of the Sword, the Joseon Dynasty version of Ang LEE’s Lust, Caution, Empire of Lust (working title), director LEE Joon-ik’s collaboration with actors SONG Kang-ho, YOO Ah-in, and actress MOON Geun-young in The Throne, biographical account of Korean opera ‘Pansori’ master SHIN Jae-hyo in Peach Flower Song, the franchise comic costume drama and sequel to DETECTIVE K: Secret of Virtuous Widow, Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island, and MIN Kyu-dong’s The Inferno (working title) are a few titles scheduled for theatrical releases.

 

2. The ‘ten million admissions films’ becoming a common phenomenon
Since The Thieves released during the summer of 2012, the Korean film industry has continued pushing out films reaching ten million in ticket sales each season which clearly was the case for this year’s market as well. The Attorney (2013) released at the end of last year saw over ten million in ticket sales during this winter season, while animation Frozen (2013) touched the ten million mark this spring. During the summer season, Roaring Currents easily bulldozed its way into the ten million ticket sales club in just 12 days with Interstellar joining in as of December 25th, summing up to an average of at least one ten million ticket sales film being churned out every 3-4 months.

This shows a Korean film industry riding on the tails of the ten million admissions films, meaning that without a steady output of these films, the industry will lose its drive. This also indicates the industry’s deepening reliance on such mega hits. On the other hand, mid-sized films are gradually decreasing with their ill-fated status in the box office. For a film to reach ten million in ticket sales within Korea’s market capacity requires a number of lower budget and low-scale films to step down which makes it hard to look at the ten million admissions films in a positive light. 2014 made its mark with a winner-take-all paradigm that has intensified during the past few years.

 

The first time a Korean film sold ten million tickets in the local box office was a decade ago when Silmido released on December 24th, 2003 grabbed. Afterwards, a total of 12 films joined the ten million ticket sales club including Avatar (2009), Frozen with the addition of Roaring Currents which ranked the highest grossing Korean film up to date with a total score of 17,611,849 tickets.

As the first film to hit the 15 million sales record, the significant aspect of Roaring Currents’ box office success is its ‘rapid pace’. Given that screens are usually secured to the fullest for the opening week, running ten million in 12 days is still an astonishing record. This is 10 days ahead of BONG Joon Ho’s The Host (2006), 9 days ahead of CHOI Dong-hoon’s The Thieves, and 21 days ahead of JK YOUN’s Haeundae (2009). Various analyses of KIM Han-min’s Roaring Currents and its success have been pouring out. One of the analyses is that the success is due to the fact that it is a spectacular large-scale epic tale of a legendary hero, put out during the peak season of the year. However, this doesn’t fully explain the film’s raving outcome. One thing for sure is that Roaring Currents succeeded to satisfy the 2014 audience with the most desired story and images or in other words a ‘spectacle of victory’ that comforted Koreans beaten by economic depression and social tragedies such as the Sewol Ferry disaster. Roaring Currents attracted a large audience with the ‘messianic fantasy’ of a respected General whose solid leadership and noble devotion led the people through national crisis and defeated the enemy. This film’s box office success is suggestive in how it reflects the underlying social subconscious of Koreans.

 

4. Striving for industrial rationalization
There were efforts to improve the Korean film industry’s unhealthy structure in the market where it is extremely polarized. The first to be pointed out was the theater monopoly. Despite years of numerous attacks on the same subject, the issue of division between distribution and exhibition is still prevailing and the problem has escalated to be taken care of through legal procedures. This is also followed by various suggestions for building a healthy industrial ecosystem which includes modifying the exhibitor and distributor revenue split, expanding film development subsidies, and increasing support for small-scale independent distributors.
The Korean Fair Trade Commission’s correction order and fine applied to major companies with multiplexes is to restrict them from abusing their dominance in the market. For small and medium-sized production and distribution companies to co-exist, more detailed bills and support plans are required.

 

‘Artbuster’, an amalgamation of ‘art film‘ and ‘blockbuster’ is a term used only in the Korean film industry. It can simply be understood as a ‘blockbuster film with art house qualities’ or a film that is more auteur-driven in nature but generates commercial blockbuster film output in the box office. Art house films normally sought out by a limited number of followers have recently been faring well in the local box office despite their modest theatrical openings.

The film that triggered this phenomenon is Wes ANDERSON’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. In fact, ANDERSON’s film never sold more than 50 thousand in ticket sales until The Grand Budapest Hotel which raked in a whopping 770 thousand this year. Following this film was Spike JONZE’s Her with 350 thousand ticket sales while European films such as The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and Attila Marcel also saw good results. By far, the most noted success was Begin Again attracting 3.43 million in ticket sales, earning the film more money in Korea (USD 25.87 million) than it did in North America (USD 16.17 million).

A new consumption pattern and taste quite different from before are two significant shifts in Korea’s film market to take notice of. And these new box office trends that emerged this year are surely expected to gain a stronger presence in the market.

 

6. Socially-driven films speak up
A minor trend that appeared recently is the constant flow of socially-driven films. Whistle Blower dealing with the Korean scientist HWANG Woo-suk’s fabrication of cloned embryonic stem cells that rocked Korea ten years ago, Cart depicting the unfair labor conditions of a major supermarket, and Another Family exposing an industrial tragedy occurring in a major company-owned semiconductor factory are to name a few, seriously searching for our society’s truths. Documentaries like Quo Vadi and Black Deal explore cutting-edge issues such as the corruption of major churches, and privatization. These attempts to highlight social issues are expected to continue for the time being.

 

The VOD market in 2013 earned KRW267.6 billion (USD 267.6 million) in total sales which was a 24% increase from 2012. Considering the 6.6% rise in theater sales, the VOD market including IPTV, online and mobile downloading and streaming is showing a steep rise. This growth continued into 2014 at a similar rate with an estimate of KRW 300 billion (USD 300 million) in total sales. Accordingly, contents development and re-runs of earlier titles specifically geared for the VOD market is evidence that this sector is gaining significant importance.

Although VOD chart showings correspond to theatrical box office rankings, a few contents are displaying more popularity in the VOD market. For the Emperor, The Huntresses, and Tumbleweed are a few of such examples. These films that attracted a fairly small crowd of 400-500 thousand in the box office scored over 200 thousand views on VOD. 40 Days and Nights and The Colony barely sold over a thousand tickets in the box office, but scored over 50 thousand views on VOD. Korean film Murderer attracted 88 thousand in the box office, but scored almost the same amount of viewers on VOD. Stray Dogs enjoyed a similar effect as Murderer which both set a new example for low-budget films in the VOD market.

 

8. The Chinese market steps up
Business collaboration with China has pushed out impressive results during the past 1-2 years. This year was especially a prolific one regarding Korea-China co-productions. Chinese investments were not just limited to K-pop but also film industry businesses as displayed in Huace Film & TV’s KRW 53.5 billion (USD 53.5 million) investment in NEW, a Korean investment and distribution company. This made them the 2nd largest shareholder with a 15% stake in the business, while Orient Star Capital’s consortium’s moved to takeover multiplex chain Megabox Inc.

Currently, a number of Korea-China co-production films are in development or are awaiting theatrical release. AN Byung-ki’s Bunshinsaba 3, John H. LEE’s Third Love (w/t), KIM tae-kyun’s Bad Sister, JO Jin-kyu’s Passion Heaven, HUH In-moo’s Wedding Bible, and KWAK Jae-yong’s Meet Miss Anxiety are examples of Korean filmmakers taking the director’s seat on films with a main cast of Korean wave stars such as SONG Seung-heon or JI Jin-hee. Korean companies are also joining the bandwagon among which CJ E&M is showing the most enthusiasm. Projects at large are CHANG Yoon-hyun’s Chinese co-production The Peaceful Island, JOH Keun-shik’s My New Sassy Girl, and the Miss Granny-inspired Chinese remake, 20 Once Again. Fist and Love and Lingerie are other co-production projects. Sequel to The Host (2006) will also be made as a co-production project with China. Business between the two film industries has gained momentum with the recent Free Trade Agreement settlement. Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and China’s Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television signed a co-production agreement which enables Korea-China co-produced films to be theatrically released in China without any quota restrictions. This has served as a major reason to the recent rush of exchange between Korea and China’s film industry.

 

BONG Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer theatrically released last year and achieved significant results including pre-sales to 167 territories and substantial outcome in major markets such as China and the North America. Attracting 9.35 million ticket sales in the Korean market and KRW 67 billion (USD 67 million) in local earnings, the film stepped into the world market in full gear with great results in 2014. China was the largest market generating approximately USD 11 million while France earned USD 5.31 million, and the North American, USD 4.56 million. The slightly disappointing score in the North American market can be attributed to a downgraded release the film had to deal with after BONG Joon Ho refused to cut out 20 minutes of running time as suggested by North American distributor The Weinstein Company.

Nevertheless, the film was critically embraced. Recently, the Boston Online Film Critics Association presented Snowpiercer with Best Picture and Tilda SWINTON, Best Supporting Actress awards, and the National Board of Reviews listed Snowpiercer among the Top 10 Independent Films of 2014. Meanwhile, various critics groups praised Tilda SWINTON on her performance, presenting her with the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress, 2nd place for Best Supporting Actress at the Utah Film Critics Association Awards, and 3rd place for Best Supporting Actress at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. With a number of awards to be handed out by North American film critics’ scene by early next year, it will be interesting to see how many more times Snowpiercer will be mentioned.

 

10. The box office success of My Love, Don’t Cross That River
If it was Old Partner (2009) that stormed the mainstream film market 5 years ago, this time it’s My Love, Don’t Cross That River that is creating great waves in theaters for the 2014 winter season. This audience award-winner at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival follows an elderly couple previously introduced to the public through a popular TV documentary series. The tale of life, love and heartbreaking departure between an elderly couple married for over 70 years has been attracting a younger crowd even more than the middle to elderly age group. Screens were increased to facilitate the film’s popularity and as of December 25th, the film scored 3 million in ticket sales, and is currently looking towards 4 million, surpassing the record of 2.96 million set by Old Partner, as well as Begin Again who has held the first spot in the ‘diversity film’ category with 3.43 million.