Korea film exports crashed during the first half of the year, reports Film 2.0. According to a report by the Korean Film Council, Korean film exports were over 50 percent less of what they were last year. During the first half of 2006, Korea exported some 128 films to 47 nations, earning contract fees of 17.41 million U.S. dollars, a drop of 58.3 percent from the 41.8 million U.S. dollars made during the same period last year.
Per film, export earnings also fell 50.2 percent, going from 273,000 U.S. dollars last year to 136,000 U.S. dollars this year. Exports to Asia dropped to 63.5 percent of what they were last year, and exports to North America and Europe dropped 3~40 percent.
The only upswing was in South America, were film exports climbed 75.9 percent.
The huge drop in film exports is primarily a result of a drastic drop in film exports to Japan, Korea’s major Hallyu market. In 2005, Japan absorbed 74.1 percent of Korean film exports. This year, it dropped to 50.1 percent. In the first half of last year, Korea exported 36 films to Japan at an export price of 860,796 U.S. dollars a film, but in the first half of this year, the number dropped to 15 films at 581,566 U.S. dollars a film.
With films staring even Choi Ji-woo tanking in Japan, the Korean Film Council believes the drop in exports is due to Korea films loosing their charm.
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15 Comments
You mean they aren’t lining up in Tokyo to see “Hanbando”?
Nope, the reason is that 2005 was the Korea-Japan friendship year, and the Japanese government and industry pushed it big time. We all know how 2005 turned out to be. Without the artificial backing, the Korean wave will recede, but Koreans cultural exports will remain more numerous than it was before 2005, I think.
I would say the tanking is because the market has to rely on only new releases to survive. When Korean films first started being exported in big numbers, they had 5-10 years of back movies to select only the best to export, but now the well is run dry and only new release remain. It’s not possible for EVERY single movie to be amazing. And that’s what we’re experiencing now, executives beating a dead horse. Rather then try and export every single movie, they need to go back to exporting only the good ones. Only the strongest survive… Ya know, capitalism, free trade, the rule of the jungle, 弱肉強食 and all of that stuff….
> the reason is that 2005 was the Korea-Japan friendship year, and the Japanese government
> and industry pushed it big time.
Uh, no. The reason is that in 2005, there were a few really hot titles that ran up the export fees. Most of those titles tanked in the theaters, so now no one wants to spent millions of dollars for a movie before it gets made. Korean exports to Japan have been climbing for a few years now, but last year they overdid it.
On the other hand, A MOMENT TO REMEMBER made close to $30 million when it was released last October and APRIL SNOW made $24 million last September. And APRIL SNOW’s director’s cut rerelease, scheduled for September, had the largest ever single-day presales ever in Japan. Bigger than STAR WARS 3: REVENGE OF THE SITH, bigger than PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2, bigger than YAMATO.
How THE HOST does will go a long way toward determining whether Korean films can have broader appeal in Japan, or whether it will stay mostly a housewife+Bae Yong-joon thing.
Haisan, I am assuming your opinion comes from reading the Japanese media, magazines, and talk shows, and not the Korean media, magazines, and talk shows, right?
Haisan,
> And APRIL SNOW’s director’s cut rerelease, scheduled for September, had the largest ever single-day presales ever in Japan.
The record-breaking sales (of 5,800 presales sold for a movie in one day) is only for a single theater in Tokyo, the TOHO Cinemas Roppongi. The reason it outsold Episode III and all the others is because the April Snow director’s cut will be shown only at 2 theaters in Japan (one in Tokyo, one in Osaka). Thus, while the presales of the other movies were dispersed, those for AS were concentrated at these two venues. Plus, there was a bonus for those who purchased a presale ticket - you got to choose one out of the 3 different postcards of Bae, but only while the stock lasted. So, loyal fans rushed to the TOHO theater Roppongi on the day of the release, and bought three tickets to get all 3 types. It’s actually a good strategy; if you can’t expand the fan base, then pump up the per capita spendings. They used the same tactic with the original release of April Snow, except then they had a selection of 9 different postcards, which combined created a larger photo of Bae on the reverse side.
Part of the problem is that with 74% of the Korean exports, Japan is the 800-pound gorilla. It sneezes, Korean movies exports get bronchitis…
> Haisan, I am assuming your opinion comes from reading
> the Japanese media, magazines, and talk shows, and not
> the Korean media, magazines, and talk shows, right?
My opinion comes from talking to the Japanese buyers.
Personally, if I were a filmmaker I’d attempt to create a Korean or a pan-Asian remake of the Lord of the Rings. Personally, I think Chosun-era style peasants would make excellent Hobbits and the quintessential maul is an excellent reinterpretation of the Shire.
What an awful idea! I can just imagine how terrible it would be. I admit, though, it would be funny to see a miniaturized 송강호 as Bilbo Baggins.
Seriously though, drives me nuts when film companies do these remakes of anything - all the best Korean movies I have ever seen were (at least I hope, ortherwise I have to rethink this) original in their content. The worst ones all tried to give Korea’s spin on some existing film.
Can’t comment on Korean movies (haven’t seen any since 친 구 ) but I can say that when speaking to Chinese people in Vancouver, they are all in love with Korean media and can list off their favorite actors/actresses using their Chinese characters.
Haisan,
Maybe the next time you meet your Japanese buyer friend, you should ask him not why Japanese distributors stopped spending lavishly on Korean films, but why they initially rushed to accept the outrageously overpriced tags and shelled out even more to promote Korean films in Japan all of a sudden, where previously only modest hits like SHURI, JSA, and MY SASSY GIRL existed. If his answer is the Korean wave in Japan, ask him then why distributors who had to know that kanryu consisted mainly of the WINTER SONATA hit, supported almost entirely by F3 consumers (F3: females above 50), were taking a gamble on films that were definitely not for that audience, like SILMIDO and BROTHERHOOD. Even Bae’s SCANDAL flopped and failed to meet the $10-million line. Although the hit of A MOMENT TO REMEMBER was supported by the F1 audience (F1: females aged 20-34, THE audience to get if you want a hit), I think it was probably more a part of the love romance wave in 2004 lead by CRYING OUT LOVE, IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD than the Korean wave. Besides, MOMENT was a rehash of PURE SOUL, EVEN IF YOU WERE TO FORGET ME, a Japanese drama aired in 2001 (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B000B5M80O/249-5630311-3543545?v=glance&n=561958), so I highly doubt that it was the Korean-ness of the film that appealed to the F1 audience.
The advertising company, Dentsu, who pride themselves in being the fad-creator of Japan, failed this time around, and it wasn’t because of the lack of appeal in Korean films, but it was rather that people were simply turned off because Dentsu tried to create a Big Wednesday out of something that otherwise might have been some pleasant waves splashing in. However, they did succeed in making the average Japanese become aware of their neighbor in the peninsula; unfortunately, by overdoing it they may have cultivated more negative emotions than positive ones.
> Maybe the next time you meet your Japanese buyer friend,
> you should ask him not why Japanese distributors stopped
> spending lavishly on Korean films, but why they initially rushed
> to accept the outrageously overpriced tags and shelled out even more
> to promote Korean films in Japan all of a sudden
First of all, it is “friends” (in addition to many people I know but who are not really friends). Secondly, why prices went up has been a subject people in the industry have been talking about for quite a while. And sorry, but “Korean Wave” is not the main answer (it is not a very useful term in the industry, however much lazy sports tabloids might like to use it). Dentsu making a fad is not the main answer. Although undoubtedly anything that gets overhyped gets annoying, that does not take away from the real market trends going on.
International sales around Asia are on the rise. Korea has been more aggressive about getting its product out there, but plenty of other countries are doing the same thing (including Japan).
Shiri, btw, made $18 million in Japan, which is pretty solid. Windstruck made $19 million. Plus there was BoA and several other TV dramas that did well (not all of them to older housewives). So film buyers could be forgiven for thinking there was something happening here, something beyond just housewives. They gambled, a few won, many lost. So now they are being more careful about how and what they buy. But every time someone scores a hit, it makes everyone else ready to gamble on the next project all over again…
(Btw 2, MOMENT was not a “rehash”, it was remake.)
I don’t know how many different ways you can write a love triagle story…
That HOST movie might make a dent.
http://www.koreanfilm.org/dc/d.....&page=
The Anti-Korean wave in Japan is mainly to blame. Vietnam and China also put import restrictions on Korean films.