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March is coming to an end, looking back on this month's entertainment life, maybe you can give it a "glory" theme, after all, you and I are both people who accompanied Wen Dongen and were reborn in "Dark Glory".
Although the entire season was released at once to end the show, there was still no lack of discussion about it on the social scene. For example, thinking about practical issues such as school violence, pondering the theme of women's revenge, recalling crazy criticism, and even exploring issues such as "dislocation and unity between writing, directing, and acting" in this drama.
It can be said that after the stage victory of "Dark Glory", the relationship between Netflix and Korean film and television has once again come to the public.
In fact, before the first original Korean drama "Kingdom" invested in and produced by Netflix was launched in 2019, Korean film and television were firmly tied to Netflix. In 2015, Netflix chose to expand the Asia-Pacific market from Japan, which has higher payment habits, then focused on South Korea and Southeast Asia, and officially opened its Asian branch in 2018, followed by the first shot of Netflix's "localization + global vision" with "Kingdom".
After the crushing victory of "Squid Game", "Dark Glory" once again reached the top... In this way, in the very pleasant cooperation model of frequent big hits and small hits, the relationship between Korean film and television creation and Netflix has moved to the next new stage.
So let's take a look today at where Netflix, which will further cooperate with South Korean film and television, will land after "Dark Glory".
Netflix's next target
"Dark Glory" is over, who will play next? The Netflix original movie "Kill", which will be launched on March 31, may be the first to quench thirst.
The story content of the film is not complicated, mainly tells the story of a legendary female killer in the industry, Ji Fushun, who is involved in an inevitable duel before renewing her contract with the company, in which Fushun's B-side is also a single mother who needs to face her adolescent daughter. Obviously, combining the typical mother-daughter relationship in East Asia with killer filmmaking is the biggest attraction of this film at the content level.
However, according to the feedback of netizens who have seen the premiere first, there will be many traces of "borrowing" in this movie, and many classic films such as "Killing Bill", "Old Boy" and "Grandmaster" have provided "technical guidance" for it.
But after all, it has not been officially launched, so you can put aside spoilers for the time being to pay for the cast. After all, "Kill Fushun" is co-starred by South Korean Grand Slam actress Jeon Do-yeon and actor Sit Kyung-woo, one of the troika of Chungmuro Road, and there are also Goo Kyo-hwan, who became the most watched newcomer last year with Netflix's crime drama "D.P: Deserter Chase", and Li Su, who became famous by "Model Taxi", and other starring actors, the attraction is still not low.
In fact, from the perspective of the work out of the circle, Netflix and Korean film are not as good as Korean dramas, after all, in terms of dramas, there are already a series of word-of-mouth representatives such as "Kingdom", "Squid Game", "Sweet Home", "Very Lawyer Yu Yingyu", "Dark Glory" and so on, but there is nothing to achieve in the movie. So whether you should have confidence in this commercialized "Kill Fushun" will need to be known by yourself in three days.
Another noteworthy work is Netflix's "Queen Maker", which will be launched on April 14, starring Kim Ai and Moon So-ri, and the top combination of the two movies is also regarded as "generational cooperation", telling the story of a wizard who is good at shaping images, Hwang Do-hee (played by Kim Ai), determined to turn the human rights lawyer "Oh Seung-suk" (played by Moon So-ri), who is known as the "righteous rhinoceros" but lives a weedy life, into a female political drama for the mayor of Seoul.
It is not difficult to find that from "Very Lawyer Woo Young Woo" and "Dark Glory" to "Kill Fushun" and "Make the latter", Netflix has always tried to face up to desire and growth from a female perspective in the process of creating Korean programs, which is highly consistent with the trend of film and television creation in the general environment. Especially when elements with a sense of drama and realistic observation such as revenge, upgrade, and self-consistency are integrated into women's themes, a commercial point with a sense of the times is also born.
This is not wishful thinking
According to the Media Partners Asia platform report, Netflix will spend $1.9 billion on local content in the Asia-Pacific region this year, an increase of 15% year-on-year, with South Korea and Japan being the most important prospective markets.
From the data performance, Netflix's layout in the Asia-Pacific region has taken bigger and bigger steps because the previous investment has seen a return. Last year, Netflix said that more than 60% of global subscribers had watched at least one Korean drama in the past year, and in the third quarter, the Asia-Pacific region attracted 1.4 million new subscribers for Netflix, becoming the world's fastest-growing region and the main source of new Netflix users, which shows the market prospects.
Of course, specific individual works such as "Squid Game", "Very Lawyer Yu Yingyu" and "Dark Glory" have also enhanced Netflix's word-of-mouth and explosive effect to a certain extent. After all, the momentum of crushing English works in the same period and attracting more than half of the world's Netflix users as soon as it was launched has indeed made an important contribution to Netflix's globalization strategy.
Although a series of actions such as Netflix's construction of bases and yard markets are more like an "invasion" for South Korean local TV stations, this is by no means a "wishful thinking".
Due to the impact of the epidemic, the international situation and other aspects, the prospects of South Korea's film market in the past two years have been bleak a lot. Just like Xue Jingqiu and other Zhongwu Road movie celebrities, many famous directors and famous actors who once played comfortably on the big screen are facing the choice of "next fan" filming in the old career that is becoming increasingly sluggish.
And at this moment, Netflix, which has been helped by works such as "Squid Game", further recruits and invests heavily in talents, which just gives them a perfect and value-preserving step.
In contrast, Netflix can give higher remuneration, and while marketing the world, increasing its international value, it will also reduce the box office pressure from South Korea. Netflix's experience in many blockbusters in the past not only provides the courage to test the waters from this springboard for the big coffees who are already in high positions, but also makes it more acceptable to the Korean people who have always had a "sublime" mentality, so when the movie coffee is determined to switch to TV series, the corresponding public opinion resistance will also be reduced, basically beneficial and harmless, and everyone is happy to participate.
Over time, in the process of multi-party integration and spiraling upward, the cooperation and development of Netflix and Korean film and television has basically experienced a cyclical pre-order growth, and with the continuous release of subsequent works and the continuous strengthening of local and international cooperation, the relationship between the two is bound to develop towards a stage of deep binding.
Successors, there are many people
In the past, artists also wanted to participate in strong dramas such as JTBC, MBC, SBS, tvN and other reliable platforms, but now the protagonist who is being contested has become Netflix.
"Famous, traffic, acting", is Netflix in the process of cooperation with South Korean film and television to select actors several clear criteria, although Netflix usually does not intervene in the shooting, leaving the director and screenwriter and other production teams with a lot of autonomy, but sufficient funds and relatively relaxed creative environment, ultimately led to the previous three standards, the choice of director and screenwriting team also follows the principle of high matching, after all, who doesn't want to try it in full conditions?
For example, Hwang Dong-hyuk + Lee Jung-jae in "Squid Game", Kim Eun-sook + Song Hye-kyo in "Dark Glory", Hong Zhong-chan + Kim Hye-so in "Juvenile Court", etc., but almost all works that can stand up in popularity and word of mouth are almost exceptional. More and more creators want to catch the giant ship of Netflix, and with it is the division of resources at this level.
In fact, from Chungmu Road to Netflix, in addition to the Mesozoic generation who speaks purely by strength, there are actors like Liu Yaren who have both works and popularity. '21's "Hell Minister" and '22's "Seoul Battle" are both testaments to his preference for Netflix.
However, the outbreak of drug abuse that shocked overseas at the beginning of this year not only made everyone sigh for Liu Yaren, but also made many people sweat for Netflix, because in addition to the previously launched works, Liu Yaren restored to starred in Netflix's original series "Hell Ministers 2" and "Doomsday Fool", and Netflix also bought the broadcast rights of the movie "Victory and Defeat" starring Liu Yaren, which is expected to be launched in Q1 this year and is now hopeless.
Contrary to expectations, Netflix's preference for Liu Yaren is also difficult to maintain, and it is unknown who will be the substitute to be favored. But what is certain is that there are many successors. Because the benefits Netflix can offer young actors are too tempting.
Take the actor Xin Yingen of Lin Yanzhen in "Dark Glory" when she was a teenager, after accumulating popularity in the small online drama, she began to play the heroine in small and medium-sized productions, the route is very conventional, although not many people watch it, but they have received a lot of acting criticism.
After starring in "Dark Glory", Xin Yingen directly revised her acting style with the image of a potential evil woman, not only the national popularity soared, but even overseas popularity soared, and at the same time became one of the guests of the popular observation variety show "Omniscient Intervention Perspective", and the Shang Dynasty rose.
In fact, Zheng Haojuan, the actor of Jiang Xiao in "Squid Game", and Anupam Tripati, the actor of Ali Abdul, have also received a lot of resource blessings after the show was broadcast. Therefore, even if Netflix lacks an irreplaceable Liu Yaren, there is no need to worry, and the successors who are looking at the tiger are already waiting for it.