May Follow 20th Century Fox into Local Production
Following 20th Century’s ongoing forays into the Korean film industry, Warner Bros. has followed suit by announcing its intention to produce films directly for the local market. Senior Vice President of Business Affairs Jun OH shared their plans during the International Content Conference (DICON) currently taking place in Seoul.
Already active as a local producer in a number of territories, including Germany, Italy and Japan, OH confirmed that they were currently “eyeing China and Korea,” citing WB’s status as a “trend-conscious company.”
The move would make it the second Hollywood major to produce directly for the Korean market. Beginning with last year’s
Running Man, Fox International Pictures (a division of 20th Century Fox) has an active slate of Korean titles, including the recently released
Slow Video and upcoming titles by directors
NA Hong-jin and
IM Sang-soo. To date, FIP’s titles have yet to leave significant marks on the local box office with
Slow Video accruing KRW 8.91 billion (USD 8.06 million) and
Running Man garnering KRW 10.06 billion (USD 9.09 million).
During the same seminar, Michael Lee, a vice president at Village Roadshow Pictures, which frequently collaborates with Warner Bros., expressed interest in Korea following his company’s success in China, having produced blockbusters such as Stephen CHOW’s
Journey to the West since their debut in that market in 2011. Not long ago, the outfit snatched up Chinese remake rights to last year’s hit Korean thriller
Hide and Seek.
Both OH and LEE spoke of the spotty track record for Hollywood remakes of Korean films, particularly in the wake of Spike LEE’s poorly received Oldboy remake. They stated that it was difficult to attract significant directorial talent to these projects (referring to the outlying success of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed in 2006). With only half a dozen examples (though many more are in various stages of development), LEE felt that the sample size is currently too small to determine to value of these remakes.
Last month, Warner Bros. was also in the local news after setting up a subsidiary to release WB titles that wouldn’t normally secure theatrical releases in Korea directly on VOD.