This article**: Times Weekly Author: Ma Huan.
In the Korean film industry, something happened again.
On December 13, the Seoul Huisheng Court (a court specializing in bankruptcy cases) issued an announcement announcing the bankruptcy of the Korea Federation of Filmmakers, a corporation that hosts the Korea Film Daejong Awards.
The court said that the Federation of Korean Filmmakers had more debts than its assets and could not generate income from its own operations, so it decided to declare it bankrupt and the rights to host the Daejong Award Film Festival would be auctioned.
The Korean Film Daejong Award is one of the most influential and authoritative awards in South Korea, and is known as the three major film awards in South Korea along with the Blue Dragon Film Award and the Baeksang Arts Award. Therefore, this news has made the already sluggish Korean film industry even worse.
The Korean film industry has had a tough 2023. In the first half of the year, the number of moviegoers in Korean cinemas was only 10.2 billion, half of the same period last year. In the second half of the year, there was a slight improvement, according to Yonhap News Agency on December 14, with the good performance of the local film "Seoul Spring", the number of moviegoers in South Korea reached 7.64 million in November, an increase of 19 percent year-on-year9%。However, this figure has only recovered to 46 in the same period before the pandemic9% only.
Movie theater ticket office in Seoul, South Korea (Source: Social **).
To make matters worse, no one wants to invest money in making Korean movies.
In the first half of this year, South Korea only started 9 films, and it is expected that less than 20 films will be shot normally throughout the year, and the directors are complaining because they have no work.
At a seminar hosted by the Korean Film Directors Alliance, the famous South Korean director Yoon Ji-gyun pointed out that South Korean local films still have some reserves of works shot during the epidemic, which can be scheduled until the first half of next year. But with the reduction in investment, the production of local films has plummeted, and it is unclear how many more Korean films will be released in the future from the second half of next year.
There are very few people who are willing to invest in Korean films," Yoon Ji-kyun lamented, "It's a very dark and lonely situation." ”
The Korean film industry, which has been able to shoot "Parasite" and "Train to Busan", and has won many international awards, why has it come to this point?
Imported blockbusters beat local films.
After more than 3 years of silence due to the new crown epidemic, the Korean film industry is back on track this year, but the performance of Korean local films can only be described as lackluster. The number of viewers of most films, not to mention achieving 10 million, even 1 million has become an unattainable goal.
According to data released by the Korea Film Promotion Council, Korean films have suffered a bad start to the year, and almost all of the 20 Korean local films released in the first quarter have "hit the streets": the only movie with more than 1 million viewers is "Negotiation" (1.72 million), the highly anticipated blockbuster "Ghost" and "External Secrets" are only 660,000 and 750,000 respectively, "Switch", "Count", "Bear Man" and "Soul Mate" and other small and medium-sized production films, none of which have crossed the threshold of one million people.
It wasn't until May that the Korean film market relied on Ma Dongxi's "Crime City 3" to have the first local film to break the 10 million mark this year.
Crime City 3" poster Source: Social**
In contrast to the almost "annihilation" of Korean films, Hollywood and Japanese films have shone brightly: the anime "Suzuya Journey" became the first Japanese film to surpass 5 million moviegoers in South Korea, and the other anime "Slam Dunk" has accumulated more than 4.58 million viewers.
In the first half of 2023, among the top 10 movies in South Korea, only two Korean films are homegrown, and the rest are all occupied by Hollywood blockbusters and Japanese films. Moreover, the Korean local films released in the first half of the year, except for "Crime City 3", which made a profit, all the rest lost money.
In the second half of the year, with the performance of films such as "Seoul Spring", Korean films finally saved some face. So far, "Seoul Spring" has reached more than 6 million viewers, second only to "Crime City 2" among local films.
But the performance of just a few films can't change the overall decline of the Korean film industry. Throughout 2023, there are only 7 local Korean films that can be regarded as no losses.
On July 26, the statistics of the Korean Film Promotion Council showed that the total box office in South Korea reached 607.8 billion won (about 3.3 billion yuan) in the first half of this year, returning to the pre-epidemic level of 7%. But most of the audience and sales come from foreign films, and the box office of imported films is nearly twice that of domestic films.
To add insult to injury, there is also the box office fraud of local movies.
On August 17, the results of a South Korea** survey showed that among the films released in South Korea in the past five years, the box office data of at least 323 films were artificially inflated. Among them, the movies "Emergency Landing", "Hot Blood", "Rain and Your Story" and other works have inflated the number of people, and the people involved in the case have been handed over to the procuratorate for processing.
No one voted for Korean movies.
Audiences have dwindled, and investment has shrunk.
In the past, more than 200 local films were shot in South Korea every year, but this year, less than 20 films have started.
A South Korean filmmaker told the Korean media "Asian Economy": "In the past, the investment ratio of the five major Korean film investment and distribution companies accounted for 20%-30%, and the investment ratio of small investment enterprises accounted for 70%-80%. But in the three years of the epidemic, because he couldn't make money, most of the capital withdrew from the film market. No company is willing to invest with 'high risk and high return'. Coupled with the global economic downturn, do you think the film industry can still hold on?”
Filmmakers complained about the lack of money, and audiences were dissatisfied with the quality of the film.
Among the Korean domestic films released last year, there was only one that interested me, but when I bought a ticket and watched it, it was called dull and boring. The (Korean) domestic films released after that made me feel that such a bunch of stinky fish and rotten shrimp could simply be watched on the Internet. A Korean viewer said.
In this regard, a film-related person explained: "Small and medium-budget movies can't be made now. In the past, you could invest 5 billion to 6 billion won (about 27.45 million to 32.94 million yuan) to make movies, but now it is too difficult to raise funds, and there is no money to do special effects. In the field of cultural industry, good works are competitiveness, but now it is simply impossible to make films that reach a high level at the technical level. ”
Top directors such as Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, who used to be the pride of Koreans, have also moved to Hollywood to produce English-language films and TV series, adding to the industry's concern.
Stills from "Parasite" (source: social **).
During this year's Busan International Film Festival, Park Ki-yong, chairman of the Korea Film Promotion Committee, said that by the end of this year, the development of Korean films will face the depletion of only 2 billion won or more than a billion won.
With declining theatrical revenues, depleted film development**, and shrinking budget for film revitalization, the Korean film industry seems to be at a loss. Large-scale films that rely on private capital investment may come to a standstill, and film festivals that showcase new films and support new directors will become increasingly difficult to host. South Korea's "Asia" commented.
The crushing of Netflix.
The intervention of Netflix and Disney+ and other stream** platforms (also known as OTT, over the top) has further reduced the control of South Korea's local capital.
In 2020, the Korean drama "Squid Game" produced by Netflix became a global hit, and Netflix, which tasted the sweetness, began to produce high-quality dramas across regions and languages such as "Kingdom", "Sweet Home" and "Dark Glory" in South Korea one after another.
Squid Game" stills (source: Social**).
These streaming platforms from overseas are generous and give film and television creators full freedom. "Kingdom" screenwriter Jin Yinji once said: "Netflix never expresses opinions, only gives money. ”
This makes more and more Korean local directors and actors tend to cooperate with Liu**, and the production company also handed an olive branch to Liu**.
A South Korean director said that there are more than 300 Korean scripts piled up on the Netflix desk, and more than 100 works are being actively discussed.
In addition, during the new crown epidemic, movie theaters were closed, and the stream ** further attracted a large number of users, and the consumption pattern of Korean people for film and television products has changed.
A person related to an investment and distribution company sighed: "In the past three years, the audience has seen the good through the stream, and their appetite has changed, even if they don't go to the theater, they can enjoy a very interesting movie-watching experience. ”
Capital saw the success of foreign streaming platforms investing in Korean dramas, and they entered the game one after another.
An investor in the financial circle who is involved in Korean film and television said that no investor is willing to invest in Korean movies now, but there are quite a lot of people who want to invest in Korean dramas. Because the number of moviegoers has fallen off a cliff and there is no hope of profitability, many production companies would rather put the best films at the bottom of the box than release them. A number of production companies are waiting to see the flow ** platform, hoping to "transfer the hospital to the network".
Korean films have lost the trust of their audiences. An unnamed South Korean distributor executive analyzed, "Many company executives are greedy for steady profits and do not lose money, and it is a big problem to sell good movies to streaming *** as soon as possible." For the long-term development of the industry, you must prioritize good movies in theaters so that you can attract audiences. ”
Choi Min-sik, a well-known South Korean actor, holds a similar view. "The world has changed. People couldn't get together, and the viewing platforms naturally changed. Although it has to be accepted, we should try to make the theater coexist with the streamer**, not be replaced by the latter. ”
Stills from the famous Korean actor Choi Min-sik's masterpiece "Old Boy" (Source: Social **).
There is a long way to go.
On July 4, South Korea** released the direction of economic policy in the second half of the year, saying that it would support cultural content industries such as films.
Prior to this, South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol promised when he invited filmmakers to dinner that he would spare no effort to support Korean films to take off again. In addition to financial support, Yoon also mentioned tax incentives, invigorating the financial system, and expanding film investment.
However, Korean films first have to face a problem of destocking.
According to "Asia**", the number of "stock films" that cannot be released on time due to the epidemic is still close to 100, and how to digest these films has become a difficult problem for film practitioners.
South Korea said that a virtuous cycle of funds can only be achieved after the film is released, and the film will be reinvested and remade, and a more precise support plan will be introduced to support the film industry.
Theaters can't go away. This is where the emotions of the movie can be felt by many viewers. I think theaters have to exist, no matter how many there are. This is not a museum of static artifacts. In order to revitalize theaters, although operators must conduct more research from a commercial point of view, the responsibility of the creator is to shoot a good one, and it is necessary to make a work that is attractive enough to attract the audience. Choi Min-sik said.
Back in 2019, the South Korean movie "Parasite" swept the four Oscars and won many international awards such as the Palme d'Or and the Golden Globe Award at the Cannes Film Festival. At that time, the whole country was cheering, and everyone thought that Korean cinema was at its peak.
But to this day, it is sad to find out that "Parasite" may well not be the beginning of glory, but the prologue of its decline.
Korean films still seem to have a long way to go before they can regain their former prosperity.