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- CJ Aims to Locally Produce 20 Foreign Films Annually by 2020
- by Pierce Conran / Sep 22, 2017
- Korean Studio Active across Asia and the Americas
CJ Entertainment is widening its scope for international co-productions after announcing that they aim to produce 20 titles for foreign markets in ten different languages by 2020 during a press conference in Seoul on September 13th. Already the top studio in Korea, where its annual slate includes around 10-15 titles, CJ has made waves internationally over the past few years with several localized projects, including several versions of their 2014 hit family comedy Miss Granny.JEONG Tae-sung, CEO of CJ Entertainment, explained that with audiences plateauing at home and at risk of stagnating due to Korea’s aging population, international endeavors such as localized remakes are necessary new business ventures.Far and away their most visible success has been the localized versions of Miss Granny, which have cropped up all around the world. Remake rights for the project were picked up in 16 countries, but while those sales amounted to just KRW 400 million (USD 353,000), the combined theatrical takes of the versions released in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan is KRW 78 billion (US 68.86 million).The company also has their sights set on the US market, where they are seeking to break away from the studio system by financing mid-budget films ranging from USD 4.4 million to USD 35.4 million. Plans are currently afoot for English-language versions of CJ titles Sunny (2011), their Vietnam co-production The Housemaid from last year and once again Miss Granny. A Spanish-language version of Miss Granny is also underway, which would introduce CJ to both Mexico and the broader Latin American market.Other markets in play include Turkey, which like Korea sells a majority of tickets for local films each year, while the company is also looking into Russia, India and others.JEONG also noted that the company is still active in China, where they are developing projects and waiting to see what happens with the current political situation that has slowed down exchanges between the two countries.To date, CJ Entertainment has produced 27 titles for foreign markets, in addition to the 264 Korean films they have sold abroad.
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