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Chinese remakes of Korean films have been booming since the big success of 20, Once Again!, a remake of the Korean film Miss Granny (2014). What elements led to remakes of Korean films such as Blind (2011), Architecture 101 (2012) and Cyrano Agency (2010)? Let’s look into why remakes of Korean films are booming in China. 

 

On February 25, the preliminary agreement on Korea-China FTA was signed after 30 months of negotiation. In it, discussion about co-production between Korea and China also took place. If the two countries produce a film in collaboration and the film is recognized as a co-production, then the film is free from China’s screen quota restrictions. Accordingly, it is none other than remakes that gained a big momentum with a spur to Korea-Chinese co-productions. An increase in China’s remakes of Korean films is dwarfing an increase in new content production.  

 

Increase in Remakes of Korean Films
The success of 20, Once Again! ignited this trend. The Chinese remake of the Korean film Miss Granny, a 2014 box office hit in Korea, is a romantic comedy where a grandmother in her 70s accidently return to her 20s. Korea’s CJ E&M and China’s China’s Beijing Century Media Co., Ltd took part in planning, investing and producing the remake while C2M, Huace Media Group and Media Asia co-invested in the film. The remake premiered in China on August 8th and topped the box office at number one in its opening week. In the second week, the film made history in Korea-China co-production by chalking up CNY 20.84 million (about KRW 34.8 billion). Since then, the film continued to draw audiences and surpassed ten million viewers in China and posted over KRW 50 billion in ticket sales. This means CJ E&M’s one-source multi-territory strategy to approach the project through co-planning paid off big time in both Korea and China. Another remake of the film was produced in Thailand. Here, the important terminology is ‘remake.’ It is regarded as an economic choice not to start from scratch in screenplay writing but to find tested films that the Chinese market favors and re-create them as China-friendly works.    

 

After 20, Once Again!, Korean films to be remade in China were announced one after another. They are Blind, Dancing Princess (2005), Architecture 101, Cyrano Agency among others. It was also announced last year that Marriage Blue (2013) and 200 Pounds Beauty (2006) will be remade. My New Sassy Girl is not a remake but a sequel of My Sassy Girl (2001) which enjoyed huge popularity in China. Since the sequel was shot on location in China and casts a Chinese-born idol Victoria (Song Qian), it has safety nets as much as the remakes. 
 

Favoring Romantic Comedies
Excluding Blind, Chinese remakes of Korean films are mostly romantic comedies. This is a reflection of a characteristic of the Chinese film market that favors the genre. Moreover, romantic comedies work well because the Korean and Chinese sentiments are not too different from each other, and it naturally connects to the Korean cultural wave market in China formed through Korean reality shows. Some popular Korean entertainment programs were remade in China as films and were big hits.

 

To that extent, Korean-style comedies are in the limelight in China. Pa-pa-geo-na-a 2 recorded a high box-office score while competing with blockbusters during the Chinese New Year. The film is based on the format of the entertainment program Where Are You Going Dad? of Korea’s MBC TV. The Chinese film Run Brothers based on Running Man of SBS TV in Korea posted CNY 227 million (about KRW 39.9 billion) in sales in just three days since its release. Korean comedies are no stranger to Chinese people. In addition, the emotions of romantic comedies know no borders. This is the strength of the favored genre.  

 

“Architecture 101 and Cyrano Agency will be remade since they have universal themes,” emphasized KIM Hye-sung, a team leader at Myung Film who is developing the Chinese screenplays for the remakes. Love and romance defies nationalities. Therefore, such films have a small possibility of flopping. Equally important, Korea-China co-production is mostly about remakes rather than originals. According to KIM, it is attributable to the fact that the remake system is able to satisfy an explosive increase in demand. “The rapid growth of the Chinese film market is pushing up the demand. Snowballing demand forces us to speed up things even from the production stage. We can make a film in a short period based on a tested original.” In conclusion, remakes are the best choice they can produce after taking efficiency and commercial possibility into consideration. Chinese actors and Korean staffs are taking part in most of the Chinese remakes of Korean films. High-quality Korean human resources are being supplied to China. This method is allowing Korea and China to realize a win-win growth and develop more film businesses. It will be quite interesting to watch what films will be success stories of Korea-China co-productions in 2015.