The recent success of the concert film, Lim Young Woong| Im Hero The Stadium has put the spotlight again on event films. Accumulating more than 350,000 admissions, it is now the most successful event title in Korean box office history. It’s all the more impressive given that it is a CGV-exclusive and therefore is only screening at CGV’s multiplexes. It is capitalizing on its premium formats accounting for more than 60 percent of total admissions (29 percent, Screen X; 33.5 percent, IMAX).

While not a new trend, it has grown in prominence over the last few years with event films growing in number and frequency during the pandemic when cinemas were struggling to stay open amidst declining viewing numbers and fewer films. But one of the first significant event films was the BTS film Burn the Stage: the Movie (2018) produced by its label Big Hit Entertainment released prior to 2020. Not only was it popular in Korea accruing 315,000 admissions it was breaking records overseas accumulating $3.54m on its opening weekend in North America making it the highest grossing event film.

Unsurprisingly, other films centering on the group then followed: Love Yourself in Seoul (2019), Bring the Soul: The Movie (2019) that sold more than 2.5 million tickets worldwide, Break the Silence: The Movie (2020) that was later made available on Hybe’s (formerly Big Hit Entertainment) social media platform Weverse. The most recent film BTS: Yet to Come that was distributed through CJ ENM as an exclusive similarly saw it perform well on its premium formats Screen X and 4D where it pulled in 35,479 and 35,181 viewers respectively amounting to close to 80 percent of overall admissions for the title.

One of Korea’s other top IDOL groups, Blackpink has also been the subject of performance films with Blackpink: The Movie (2021) and more recently Blackpink: World Tour (2024). But it’s also a range of groups and indeed musicals that were released as films during the pandemic. This included Lost Face (2021), Bernarda Alba (2021), 2021 Swag Age: Shout out Joseon! (2021), Phantom: The Musical Live (2021), Beyond Live The Movie: NCT Resonance (2022), Sound of Millennium Rebirth (2022), Stargazer: Astroscope (2022), IU Concert: The Golden Hour (2023), Be: the ONE (2023), MY SHINee WORLD (2023) and NCT Nation: To the World In Cinemas (2023).

Illustrating the appeal these titles have and how the industry is evolving, many of Korea’s distributors and their subsidiaries are releasing event films. This week, therefore, we will look at some of the titles these companies are distributing and producing: Hero: Live in Cinema (Megabox) (2024), Epik High 20 The Movie (CGV ICECON) (2024), Elizabeth: The Musical Live (Megabox) (2023), j-hope IN THE BOX (Lotte Cultureworks) (2023), Lim Young Woong Im Hero The Stadium (CJ ENM) (2024), MY SHINee WORLD (Plus M Entertainment) (2023) and Blackpink World Tour (CJ 4Dplex) (2024).

Hero: Live in Cinema

Released in August through Megabox that has been releasing documentaries, animations and other performance titles including IDOLiSH7 the Movie; LIVE 4bit BEYOND THE PERiOD-DAY 1 (2023), Hero: Live in Cinema has clocked up more than 14,000 admissions. Although part of the same company (JoongAng Group) that also owns Plus M, it’s a distributor that focuses on non-mainstream titles.

Exclusively released in Megabox cinemas, Hero: Live in Cinema is a recording of a live performance of the famous musical that celebrated its 15^th anniversary in the summer playing to audiences in downtown Seoul at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. It stars Jung Sung-hwa as the independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (he also played him in JK Youn’s film adaptation) who assassinates Ito Hirobumi, the Resident-General of Korea, in 1909 in Harbin.

Popular with audiences encompassing different ages, from school children to older crowds, it gives viewers an opportunity to see the musical on screen and for those unable to secure tickets during its run at the Sejong Center, or at venues when it tours the country.

Epik High 20 The Movie

Like Megabox, one of the industry’s leading studios CJ ENM also has a label that focuses on performance films, CGV ICECON. It’s has been distributing titles such as IM HERO THE FINAL (2023), Break the Silence: The Movie (2020) and FRANKENSTEIN (2011) since the early 2010s though has released the bulk of its titles beginning in 2019 when event cinema was becoming more popular.

Epik High 20 The Movie is an anniversary concert performance at Seoul’s Olympic Handball Stadium celebrating one of Korea’s favorite hip-hop groups that was formed by Woollim Entertainment in 2001 comprising of Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz. They were known in the 2010s for their songs dealing with themes of education, war and religion.

While the group has worked under different record labels and went on a hiatus in the 2010s, they have continued to produce music with their album Strawberry and single album Screen Time released in 2023. The film sold 6,620 tickets following its release in March 2024.

Elizabeth: T​he Musical Live

Also released through the distributor Megabox was Elisabeth: The Musical Live that depicts the life of Empress Elizabeth von Wittelsbach of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While Korea’s musical market is much younger compared to London’s West End and New York’s Broadway, it is growing with more demand illustrated by the success of this title amassing 30,000 tickets.

It is dependent on its stars evident with actors such as Jung Sung-hwa who consistently draw large crowds to performances. Also very popular is Ock Joo-hyun who plays the leading role as Elisabeth. Ock is from one of the early K-pop girl groups Fin.K.L. that were instrumental in establishing Korea’s burgeoning music industry with the first-generation groups layer the seeds for what came later.

Like CGV, Megabox is able to utilize its premium formats for the release of its event titles, chiefly Dolby ATMOS that is only available in some Megabox cinemas.

j-hope IN THE BOX

In 2022, Lotte Cultureworks launched the brand Lotisful, a culture project that encompasses various genres of culture and art based on the space and identity of a cinema. Under this brand, it has distributed films that include SUGA: Road to D-Day (2023) and aespa: MY First Page (2024) and the pseudo-documentary Smartphone Matters (2024).

The documentary j-hope IN THE BOX was the distributor’s first title. It centers on BTS member j-hope and his journey from producing his first album “Jack in the Box” to his debut on stage at Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival in Chicago.

After the success of other performance titles and documentaries that follow the BTS group that have struck a chord both locally and internationally, films have since also focused on the different members that also include the aforementioned SUGA: Road to D-Day. Both are currently available to stream on Disney Plus.

Lim Young Woong| Im Hero The Stadium

Distributed through CGV ICECON and produced by CJ ENM, Lim Young Woong| Im Hero The Stadium is its highest grossing event title to date confirming to the studio that event cinema can be lucrative despite the ongoing concerns about the theatrical market and its sluggish post-pandemic recovery. Premium formats continue to perform robustly as the success of this film demonstrates accumulating $1.8m on Screen X alone. This technology that sees films projected on both walls inside the screen was pioneered by CJ ENM subsidiary CJ 4DPLEX in 2012 in collaboration with the university KAIST.

The film captures live concerts and behind-the-scenes footage of trot singer Lim Young-woong when he performed at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in May. Trot music that has traditionally been popular with older audiences is also making inroads with younger demographics owing to the popular trot audition shows and younger contestants on cable television with TV Chosun’s Mr. Trot. 2 Beginning of a New Legend surpassing 35% earlier this year. Lim Young Woong won himself won first place on the reality TV show, Mr. Trot in 2020 turning him into a star.

MY SHINee WORLD

Also successful with viewers was MY SHINee WORLD that sold more than 26,000 tickets after its release in November 2023 playing for several weeks in cinemas. The film celebrates 15 years of the second-generation group SHINee that was put together by one of the leading record labels in the K-pop industry, SM Entertainment.

Like many of these performance titles it delves into the professional lives of its members through interviews and behind-the-scenes footage while also capturing footage of them performing onstage. Directed by Lee Hubin, it was sold to 23 countries including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Russia. It was distributed locally by Megabox.

Blackpink World Tour [BORN PINK] IN CINEMAS

Akin to BTS, the immensely popular group Blackpink have been the subject of documentaries/performance titles that includes Blackpink: Light up the Sky (2020) and Blackpink: The Movie (2021) underscoring their status as one of the leading acts in the world of K-pop. The latest film Blackpink World Tour (2024) that was released in July follows the group as they embark on their final concert of its world tour in 2023 in Seoul.

Released as a CGV-exclusive through CGV 4DX and CGV ICECON, the film took advantage of its premium formats: Screen X, 4DX and ULTRA 4DX with these accounting for more than 90 percent of sales. It sold a total of 16,795 tickets and was also released in various territories including the UK, Australia, Vietnam, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Editted by Shim Eunha