Last year, 8 films were damaged, and this year they are all saved? In just 3 years, Korean movies that are popular all over the world have "hemorrhage"

Text | Ling Hu Boguang

The previous article wrote about the development of Korean films themselves, this article is written about the Korean film industry, but also the development of the entire pop culture industry is facing the problem, combined with the previous article to watch it is easier to understand.

I wrote these two articles because I saw two news stories about Korean movies. One is the release of the Korean spy war film "Ghost", which adapted the Chinese film "The Wind", and the word of mouth and box office plunged, and the score of a domestic platform was only 4.7. The film was released in South Korea on January 8, and only recently launched on the Internet.

In 2023, such Korean films also include Hwang Jung-min, Hyun Bin's "Negotiations", a platform with 5.8 points. Netflix invested, the sci-fi film "Zhenyi" directed by "Trip to Busan" also hit the street with a double reputation at the box office, which is very bad.

Second, a domestic Korean film blogger posted a video of a Korean director talking about Korean movies, and the Korean director is very pessimistic about the future of Korean films, believing that Korean films have reached a moment of life and death.

The Korean director Yoon Ji-jun is not a nobody, and his representative works include "Color is Empty", "Haeundae", "Mutual Assistance", "International Market" and so on. Why he is so pessimistic about Korean movies, this will be discussed in conjunction with the content of the video.

To know that Korean movies are extremely popular in Chinese, what can change the country, in recent years, "Parasite", "Squid Game" and "Determination to Break Up" have shined all over the world, even Tang Wei won awards in South Korea, netizens have turned their heads to mock a wave of Chinese actresses, as well as Chinese movies.

I believe that these two things are beyond the cognition of many domestic netizens, especially the second one, after all, the first thing which country does not make several bad films in a row, here is a rough analysis.

Korean movies are popular all over the world, why are they "on the street"? We know it when we watch Chinese movies

What is most important for the cultural industry? The economy, population, market, content is of course important, but not as important as you think. Economic development affects people's consumption level, the number of population determines the consumption capacity of the audience, and the consumption capacity of the audience determines the market space, which is the upper limit to support the development of a country's regional cultural industry.

Thriving cultural goods can support the entire industry such as directors, screenwriters, actors and creators to make money. In order to determine the young talents in various fields to enter the industry and develop better.

Last year because of the "epidemic" and other reasons were very difficult, especially before and after the National Day file on the Internet singing decline, although I am more optimistic about the rejuvenation in 2023, but I did not expect that the 2023 Spring Festival file ushered in a wave of outbreaks, and raised a vote of film and television companies and creative teams.

Let's return to the topic of Korean movies, South Korea is unable to compare with the big market of China and the United States.

South Korea's population will be about 52 million in 2022, and many people have seen the news that South Korea's newborns fell below -2.4 last year. According to the data, the peak of South Korea's population growth is also after 8090, the main consumer group of movies is teenagers, 10 years later, South Korea's consumption power is not optimistic.

At this time, some people will definitely say how China's fertility rate is, about 219 million people after the 80s, about 188 million people after the 90s, about 147 million people after 00s, the decline is obvious, and the decline will be more obvious after the 20s. But the total number is still much better than that of Japan and South Korea (the burden of old-age and economic linkage is complicated).

South Korea's economic development is not bad, although the future in the chip semiconductor, automotive, shipbuilding, steel pillar industries by China competition, the future development is not optimistic.

However, I think South Korea's economic problems are the same as population problems. As long as there is no major external event shock, its decline is also a slow process, and it will not be done in one step. At present, the main problem is that the Korean cultural market has long developed to its peak, and when it reaches the ceiling, it cannot break through the spatial dilemma.

Last year, 8 films were damaged, and this year they are all saved? How did Korean movies suddenly "hemorrhage"

South Korea's local box office number one "Battle of Mingliang" in 2014, "Extreme Occupation" in 2019. Believe me, the local box office charts in South Korea were all between 2012 and 2019, which is also the peak of Korean films.

Although Korean film and television dramas have shined internationally in the past three years, the local market has suffered serious losses, especially in 2022, the local market is very miserable, only 8 films will be lost in 2022, the data is that the box office of local films accounts for about 53%, and the number of moviegoers is 1.86 times that of 2021, but only 49% of 2019.

So far in 2023, "Negotiations", "Ghost" and "Hero" have all been pounced. Here is back to the concerns of the great Korean director Yoon Ji-kyun in the video, I read the summary and this is the point.

First, Korean film companies do not vote, such as CJ, Box, Lotte, NEW Megabox, etc. They invest in a film and pay 20%-30% of the overall production cost, up to 30%.

I believe you all understand what this means, the main film companies are not willing to invest, so what about the remaining 70%-80%? Isn't it ridiculous to say that it's crowdfunding or venture capital companies.

The second is until the first half of next year, and there are some films that are worth shooting during the "epidemic" period, but since the beginning of this year, there are almost no investors in South Korea to invest in movies.

That is to say, there are still films invested in the "epidemic" period in the first half of 2024, but there may be no films in the second half of 2024, because there is no investment in 2023, so what to do in 2025?

In the end, he gave the opinion that China should at least (I have reservations) if China liberalizes movie tickets and reduces the price. Hey, I know what some Chinese netizens want to say at this time, one is that there must be the impact of the "epidemic", just after that. Second, Korean movies have long gone to the world, and the national football team still has a face to mock Brazilian football, hehe.

Cannes, Oscar, Emmy? Did Hallyu go to the world really "win"

I don't want to say that the overseas data of "Korean Wave" is not as good as a "Genshin", "Korean Wave" to the world is indeed a good thing, after all, you go out, in today's words "cultural export", but the development of this industry is multifaceted, it has led to at least 3 problems.

1. Netflix Korean dramas sell well in the world, but the capital, platform and market are all someone else's, and people are their own cultural industry chain, not yours, and will not cultivate talents for you.

I don't know if you found out, since the success of "Kingdom" in 2018, the Korean film and television dramas invested by Netflix are all the top lineups in South Korea.

"Kingdom" is the director of "The Tunnel", starring Zhu Ji-hoon and Bae Doona. "Squid Game" is the director of "The Furnace" and "Namhansanseong", starring top film actor Lee Jung-jae Park Hae-so.

"Suriname" is the director of "Agent", starring Ha Jung-woo Hwang Jung-min; The latest "Dark Glory" is a TV series director, but the starring Song Huiqiao is not a nobody, right.

Among them, there are also some newcomer works like "Zombie Campus", but there are not many of them, and they are all top Korean film and television creative teams.

2. This has led to Netflix's "siphon effect" on Korean creators, and the problem is that the local market has been sluggish. What should be done at this time is to cultivate new talents and replace them, but this economic effect is difficult to stop.

Korean creators are also reluctant to shoot local works, because the local money is too small, even if the fire is only the top in South Korea, Netflix's works are world-class, even if you were an Internet celebrity at that time, you can make a lot of money.

Netflix is only responsible for picking peaches to make money, and it wants to protect your local Korean cultural industry? Will he train new people for you and find a direction for the development of the cultural industry? No!

South Korean directors and well-known actors have all gone to film Netflix film and television dramas, and these are superimposed on the impact of the epidemic, and finally make South Korea's local film inventory small, and there is no capital willing to invest, which is the next problem. Although there is the impact of the "epidemic", why are Korean films increasingly unpopular in the local market?

3. In order to cater to the international market, Korean creators have "stolen" their own cultural characteristics are about to lose, resulting in local audiences beginning to stop buying it.

Most Chinese netizens ignore this problem, thinking that it is a successful "cultural export". In fact, the cultural aesthetics of foreign audiences are different from yours after all. The more they like to watch your content, the more Korean creators will cater to you. This you combined with my previous article, you will eventually find a phenomenon that cannot be broken.

Korean ancient film and television dramas frantically "steal" Chinese traditional culture, and the result is that dramas such as "Return the Soul" are too similar to Chinese TV series, and even Korean audiences are scolding and complaining.

The Korean films of the past two years I summarized in my last article, except for "Crime City" and a few literary films that won awards. Other themes are all American zombies, exorcisms, superpowers, science fiction films, human nature is black and broken, and plasma flesh is used to impact the eyeballs.

The creator's crazy tailor in order to make money, catering to entertainment, even the mature film and television industry can not cover the "defense".

Why is it all pounced so far in 2023, except for "Heroes". You see the sci-fi film "Zhenyi" is a tailor American and Japanese science fiction, originally the first film and television industry in Asia, but unfortunately China came out of "The Wandering Earth 2" was set off as a defense.

"Negotiations" is another copy of the same type of film in the United States, and it is too commercial and entertaining, and it is defended.

"Ghost" remakes the Chinese film "The Wind", in order to make money and entertain the anti-Japanese, it has become a defense. In 2023, South Korea's remake of Chinese films will also include "July and Ansheng", "Secrets That Cannot Be Said", "Later Us", etc., and creativity is becoming more and more lacking.

Korean creators are also anxious, capital is unwilling to invest - talent drain is serious - lack of creativity in works - crazy tailor entertainment - local audiences do not buy it - capital is unwilling to invest -

It turns out that Hong Kong cinema declined in 2002? 20 years later, it was the turn of Korean cinema

Korean films in 2023 are somewhat similar to Hong Kong movies in the late 90s, but of course there are also dissimilarities.

Similar is the same investment dilemma, the siphon effect of foreign talents, and the obvious decline of the local cultural industry. The difference is that the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets together only have a population of more than 30 million (and geographical distance), and South Korea has 52 million people and seven pillar industries; This is certainly more resilient than Hong Kong, which only does financial trade, and the result is a slash after 98 years.

I don't think there will be big real-world shocks in the future, such as wars, geopolitical conflicts, strong financial crises, etc.

The decline of the Korean Wave is still a long process, such as Japan's second economy in the world, with a population of more than 100 million, and the pop culture industry was once the second in the world, accumulating such a deep "30 years of decline", the film and television industry is obviously not good after 2010, and only industries such as animation and games remain after 40 to 2020.

Hong Kong and Taiwan music and TV dramas only lasted for 10 years, and they will not work after 2010. Hong Kong films have a mainland market, so they have lasted for another 10 years, and the people who still blow Hong Kong movies after 2020 are-

Hallyu must not be as good as Japan, I think it may also be like Hong Kong and Taiwan's decade or so (resilience depends on the feedback of reality), although there are so many similarities and dissimilarities, but there are two points.

First, at the peak of the "Korean Wave", literature and film did not yet have the influence of Hong Kong and Taiwan in the world; Music and Korean dramas are better, but they are only too commercial, entertainment success, this over-entertainment popular content, must be quickly updated.

Second, after the decline of Hong Kong and Taiwan, due to the huge mainland market, 1.4 billion people support the slow decline of cultural content. The rise of our pop culture will certainly compete with the "Korean Wave", which is the same as Japanese pop culture, because of historical grievances with the aesthetic definition of East Asian culture.

For example, Chinese audiences are becoming more and more strict in the service of costume dramas, which is competing for the right to define the aesthetics of traditional East Asian culture, and if costume film and television dramas can break out in a wave, Korean dramas will definitely not be able to beat.

For example, the Chinese streaming media that everyone despises, because China's economy, population and market can give birth to iYouteng. These platforms have gone overseas to the Southeast Asian market first, so domestic film and television dramas in the Southeast Asian market and Netflix's Korean film and television dramas have been a little difficult to separate, and these Chinese streaming media only began to go overseas in 2019, and there are three years of "epidemic" impact.

Because the economy, population, and market don't have this kind of streaming Korean Wave, it has never been a rival to Chinese pop culture, American pop culture is.