LEE Jung-se, Head of Content Division at Megabox, on creating the foundations for the next step

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LEE Jung-se, Head of Content Division at Megabox, on creating the foundations for the next step

Dec 22, 2020

Writerby KIM Su-bin
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“We will go beyond our role as an investor-distributor and consolidate our film production operations, our overseas sales, and the distribution of derivative work licenses”

This year was the year when all strategies and plans have been compromised. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, it became difficult to predict what the situation would be like in three weeks’ time. Despite this, Megabox Plus M, an investment and distribution company, managed to release four Korean films this year. After MR. ZOO: THE MISSING VIP in January BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS, OK! MADAM, and Diva strived to offer a wide diversity in terms of genre and topics. Megabox Plus M has become a major player in the industry by showing sturdy medium-sized works such as DONGJU; THE Portrait of A Poet (2016), THE OUTLAWS (2017), and Little Forest. Today we meet LEE Jung-se, head of the content division at Megabox JoongAng, to talk about the company’s plans for 2021. Megabox Plus M, which has already made its name as an investment and distribution company, plans to broaden the scope of its activities by reinforcing the production capacities of its own label Studio M, as well as its overseas sales and the licensing of adaptation rights.

2019 was the year with the highest attendance ever in Korean cinemas. This must have made the difficulties encountered this year all the harder to put up with.

This year, we were going to release YIM Soon-rye’s The Point Men, LEE Byoung-heon’s Dream (working title), KIM Sung-je’s Bogota (literal title), and LEE Sang-yong’s The Roundup [Ed note: the sequel to THE OUTLAWS]. Some of these titles have yet to complete the international location shoots they require, while others only have to be edited. We haven’t been able to set a schedule yet. Our examination of the situation with the pandemic is still ongoing. It was a difficult year since the films we did release in theaters suffered a lot from the effects of COVID-19, and the projects for which we already had a release date saw their production come to a standstill due to the pandemic.

BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS was hit particularly hard as its February 19 release coincided with the first COVID-19 outbreak in Korea. You must have had high expectations for this title, as it had been presold to 80 territories and received the Jury Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

We were thinking that the 2 million admissions mark was well within our reach with this film. Such figure would have been feasible under normal circumstances. We also believed that OK! MADAM, which was released on August 12, would be able to fill 2 million seats, but with the second wave, it sold only 1.2 million tickets. I still feel disappointed.

As the notions of high and off seasons became ambiguous, it must have been extremely difficult to set up a distribution strategy.

There are so many titles that have not been released this year… In our case, even if we were to resume today the line-up of releases we had planned for 2020, it would still take us a year and a half to fully catch up. As a result, I am now a bit more prudent when choosing which projects to back.

In other countries, the industry is experimenting with new distribution models. Are you also considering a new distribution strategy?

We feel concerned and are getting ready for it. Having more platforms on which you can consume a given content means more options on the table. A title can have a theatrical release first, or it can be released simultaneously in theaters and on another platform. As the number of platforms increases and OTT services such as Netflix are aggressively looking for new content, the situation in the end may be positive for the people who create such content.

Megabox Plus M was the first among the multiplex chains to screen Netflix movies, and this year you showed The Trial of the Chicago 7, Hillbilly Elegy, Mank, The Prom and The Midnight Sky.

We felt we couldn't go against the flow. We started distributing Netflix movies with the intent to try adapting ourselves to that trend. Our position on that matter is that we are constantly testing new things.

Do you think the current ecosystem centered on theaters will be maintained once the pandemic is behind us?

I believe so. Maybe cinemas will turn into more enjoyable spaces than they are now. They may become gathering places where people won’t just watch movies while eating popcorn, but places that will offer a wide range of entertainment. If that happens, I think the audience may come en masse again as they will realize there is a lot of fun to be had at a cinema.

Megabox Plus M gives the impression that it presents works that may not have big budgets but are always robust. Do you intend to maintain this trend in the future?

I would like to maintain that tone, but to keep the same level of production is not so easy. What worries me is the increase in production costs. We may not have our say when it comes to budget, but we will definitely try to stay authentic.

What is your lineup for next year?

We are aiming for a February release window for The Book of Fish by director LEE Joon-ik. Beyond that, Kingmaker by BYUN Sung-hyun, Spiritwalker by YOON Jae-keun with actor YOON Kye-sang, The Devil’s Deal by LEE Won-tae and starring actors CHO Jin-woong and LEE Sung-min, and The Point Men by YIM Soon-rye are titles we may release over the course of next year. As for when exactly, I guess we will have to see how the situation evolves. Currently in production, we have Bogota, Dream and The Roundup, and also Your and My Season (translated title), which revolves around the friendship between singers KIM Hyun-sik and YOO Jae-ha. A film called Hunt (literal title), with actor LEE Jung-jae both before and behind the camera and also starring JUNG Woo-sung, is expected to go into production within the first half of next year. And beyond that, there are about five other films for which casting is underway and are currently in pre-production.

If there was one business shift for Megabox Plus M in 2021, what would it be?

We have been making preparations for our move into production for a long time. We have a production facility at Megabox Plus M called Studio M. From next year, whether it is a series or a movie, chances are we will have played a producing role in it. Some of the projects that have been in incubation for the last 3-4 years will come together next year, and others will start production once casting is complete. We co-produced with Zanybros the short film anthology series The Possessed, which debuted on Netflix earlier this year. There is a movie slated to enter production next year which will be a co-production, and it will soon be followed by a series.

What were the circumstances that led you to expand your activities to production?

We view this as a tendency. We felt we could create a lot of good content since there are so many platforms. In addition to production, we also license rights to derivative works and manage international distribution deals. This year, we sold titles such as The Point Men and The Devil’s Deal. We are also directly licensing franchises to OTT services. We don't see international sales as just a matter of selling titles we created and calling it a day. No company just buys content. Companies that purchase such content also handle the theatrical releases, bring the products to the other distribution channels, are involved in the fundraising process, and even do the actual production. These are the kind of things we discuss with the buyers. The deals we make may only be for “remakes”, strictly speaking, but we are always in communication with the production companies to determine how to make the movie and what role we could play as co-producers. This is how we approached the Chinese remake of On Your Wedding Day, and the film will be released soon. For each project, the production manager at Studio M and the person in charge of the derivative work rights are involved from the early planning meetings, in such a way they may suggest, “Let’s go with this platform”, or “Let’s change the target demographic”. From the greenlighting of the project to the release, we stay in control everything.

2021 will be a year with many new challenges for Megabox Plus M.

Yes. Some of the things we have been working on will be judged in their final form. But it still requires a little bit of preparations until we get there.

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