New collaboration between theaters and OTT Platforms

A YEAR-END MEDLEY (2021) 

On December 29, 2021, Director Kwak Jaeyong came back to the romance genre after a long time with A YEAR-END MEDLEY, and it became a hot topic, choosing to unspool at theaters and on TVing, an OTT platform, at the same time. A YEAR-END MEDLEY, which started at the top of the box office among Korean films released on the same day, began screening on up to 832 theaters in the first week of its release, ranking fifth in the box office with 227,450 audiences according to the KOREA Box-office Information System (KOBIS) of the Korean Film Council on January 10.

Based on the same period condition (10 days after the release), A YEAR-END MEDLEY racked up only half of the moviegoers compared to Perhaps Love, released on November 17 last year with 434,403 viewers, and about 70% to Nothing Serious, released on November 24 with 316,360 viewers. Yes, it is true that the result of its theater release is somewhat disappointing, considering the fact that A YEAR-END MEDLEY drew a lot of attention as the comeback film of Director Kwak Jaeyong, who represents Korean romantic movies, and with the star-studded cast including Han Jimin, Lee Dongwook, Kang Haneul, Lim Yoona, Won Jinah, Seo Kangjoon, Kim Youngkwang, and the seasoned actors such as Lee Hyeyoung and Jung Jinyoung. However, the final result of A YEAR-END MEDLEY is significantly different in terms of ‘On & Off simultaneous screening.’

A YEAR-END MEDLEY, released simultaneously on the OTT platform TVing on the same day as the theater, topped the TVing movie rank on the day of its release. A distribution official evaluated, "Even in the situation of simultaneous release of the theater and the OTT service, it showed a meaningful result of topping first in the theater box office and the OTT movie rank." OTT platforms hardly disclose user figures for a single content, but it is said that A YEAR-END MEDLEY set a record for the ‘best box office hit of all time’ among TVing original movies. Based on these achievements, A YEAR-END MEDLEY plans to release the extended version with 6 episodes during the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January 2022 through Tving. The 138-minute film, which depicts 14 people who visit Hotel Emros with their own ‘love story,’ in an omnibus format, isn’t long enough to complete the whole story. So, to contain the rest of the stories untold in the film, the new version will be expanded into a series with ‘six parts.’ The six-part extended version is known to be 60 minutes longer than the original movie.

It should be noted that A YEAR-END MEDLEY is the first experiment to produce a movie and a ‘series’ at the same time as well as simultaneous screening at theaters and on OTT. Beyond the ‘On & Off simultaneous screening’ format for theaters and OTT platforms, the attempt to produce a ‘movie’ and its ‘series’ version specialized for OTT platforms at the same time, from the planning to producing stage, is drawing attention in that it is a new way to combine movies and platforms. The ‘On & Off’ era of movie screenings is evolving faster than expected.

In the COVID-19 Era, Theaters & OTT Hand-in-hand for Win-win

Okja (2017) 

With the prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic for more than two years, theaters and OTT platforms have entered a ‘win-win relationship.’ We are amazed at how much things have changed if we recall the days in 2017 when Director Bong Joonho’s Okja, a Netflix original movie, was banned to screen at theaters by multiplexes, calling for a three-week holdback. The shocking move of the ‘simultaneous release’ at theaters and on OTTs took its first step through SEOBOK in April 2021. In early 2021, some movies preparing to be released in theaters gave up their releases and changed their platform to OTT release, but SEOBOK was the first case of choosing ‘simultaneous release’ without a holdback. Since then, the win-win strategy between theaters and OTT platforms has begun to surge.

Prior to that, it was MEGABOX that opened the theater screening for OTT original movies. Starting with The King, MEGABOX has screened Netflix’s original movies in theaters since October 2019. Lotte Cinema and CGV also joined the ‘On & Off’ release method from November 2020, the following year. In this case, the method of screening first in theaters for a holdback period of as short as 9 days and as long as 2 weeks, and then releasing it through Netflix generally was established. Furthermore, in April 2021, CGV opened ‘Watcha Hall’ in collaboration with Watcha, one of the Korean OTT platforms, and screened Watcha's film content actively at 14 CGV theaters nationwide. Especially, as the COVID-19 Pandemic quarantine guidelines were strengthened, theaters have been more active in screening ‘original movies’ on OTT platforms since October 2021, when films could hardly be released at theaters. Following the special exhibition of ‘NETFIC (NETFLIX IN CGV)’ in October 2021, CGV continued the ‘On & Off’ method screening six Netflix original movies in a row. Shim Junbeom, head of CGV domestic business division at that time, said, "We are introducing varied content to revitalize the Korean film industry and theaters stagnant due to COVID-19. Besides Netflix movies, we will continue to discover good content that can give fresh fun so that audiences can visit theaters in the future," suggesting that the win-win project between theaters and OTT platforms would continue in the future.

Will the ‘On & Off’ Collaboration between Theaters & OTTs Continue in 2022?

SEOBOK (2021) 

Now, it has certainly become an anachronistic idea to ‘distinguish’ movies by screening platforms. Theaters always want new movies that will bring in moviegoers, and the audience also wants a theater screening system that allows them to enjoy movies to the fullest. Will the collaboration between theaters and OTT platforms become stronger in 2022? The film industry officials predicted that “the On & Off collaboration between theaters and OTTs will become a familiar screening method," but they also suggested that some aspects would be different from 2021.

The most important premise is a systematic discussion of the 'holdback period' of theaters and a change in profit allocation. Still, the theater district takes a conservative view on the holdback period. A theater official said, "In the case of theater releases, the majority say that we need at least four-week holdback." However, as the number of moviegoers dropped sharply during the Pandemic and supply and demand of new films became difficult and based on the experience that theaters continued to screen re-release movies or special exhibitions, the trend of the ‘On & Off’ method, which screens the original movies of OTT platforms that provide blockbuster movies stably and continuously, is expected to continue for a while. However, in 2022, when Korean anticipated films and the big directors’ new films, which have been delaying the theater release, are ready to be released, the aspect will likely be different from the past two years."

If the past two years are a transition period to adapt to and follow the film environment rapidly changing under the Pandemic, 2022 is expected to be the ‘first year’ for the film industry to make its own rules of change.