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- Korea-Southeast Asia Co-Productions Are Booming
- by KIM Seonghoon / Oct 12, 2017
- Korea filmmakers have turned their eyes to the fast-growing markets of Vietnam, Thailand
and Indonesia, and joint ventures are finally taking off
Joint ventures between Korea and Southeast Asia are finally reaping as much as they have sowed. This summer, The Girl from Yesterday, co-produced by Korea’s CJ Entertainment and Vietnam’s Yeah1TV, became the 7th highest-grossing local film in Vietnamese box-office history (USD 3 million as of Aug. 30).This record is the 3rd highest among CJ’s co-production ventures, followed by Sweet 20, a 2015 Vietnamese version of Miss Granny (2014), and Let Hoi Decide, a Vietnamese comedy produced in 2014. In April, Forever 20, the Indonesian rendition of Miss Granny, raked in USD 3 million, selling the 5th highest number of tickets among local movies released in the first half of 2017. Sweet 20 is the product of an Indonesian company purchasing entertainment intellectual property (E-IP) rights to remake Miss Granny, whereasthe The Girl From Yesterday was created as a result of purchasing the film-adaptation rights to a best-selling Vietnamese novel.Some Korean production companies chose to work directly with a local partner. Last July, Korea’s Film Line, in tandem with Filipino partner Gitana Film Productions, wrapped up shooting You With Me. Directed by Rommel RICAFORT, starringKIM Hyun-woo, Devon SERONand JIN Ju-hyung , and financed by Seoul Film Commission and Korea National Tourism Organization, the title is currently in post-production ahead of its release in late October. Another example is Shun Pong O, a joint project with Malaysia’s DDA (directed by David THIAN; starring Sinyee TAN and KIM Ho-won). Financed by Seoul Film Commission, the film received support from the Korean Film Council’s Co-Production Incentive program and will be released in February next year.Other major Korean players, namely Showbox, Lotte Entertainment and Next Entertainment World (NEW), seem to have a wait-and-see attitude before diving into co-productions. Nevertheless, the number of joint projects between Korea and Southeast Asia is clearly on the rise, spearheaded by CJ Entertainment. CJ has established a base across the three Southeast Asian countries – Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand – where it has spun out diverse co-production formats. These three territories are all different in market size, not to mention the history or conditions of the film industry. Naturally, the market entry strategies for each country vary.Tailoring Co-Productions to Each Market
In Vietnam, CJ Group’s exhibitor arm CJ CGV already dominates over half (51%) of the local film market. With this foothold, CJ Entertainment inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the country’s largest national television broadcaster VTV. It also acquired Blue Group, a top 3 contents productionand advertising agency, and established a local entity under the name CJ Blue.The history of Vietnam’s film industry is shorter than that of Thailand and its number of screens is merely half of that of Indonesia (approximately 1,200). However, onlookers have noted how the strong presence of Korean companies, including CJ CGV, presents a good business environment for Korean filmmakers.In Thailand, CJ Entertainment decided to directly invest in and produce films for the local market. It joined hands with Thailand’s largest cinema operator Major Cineplex Group to launch investor-producer CJ Major Entertainment. This can be attributed to the fact that the Thai film industry has a relatively long history and a large pool of capable and readily accessible directors and producers.Unlike the two countries above, a so-called “remote control” tactic was employed in Indonesia, by deploying employees there. Creating a local entity as a non-Indonesian in the past had been simply impossible, but in 2015, the Indonesian government fully opened its doors to overseas investment (CJ CGV first entered the market by acquiring local cinema brand Blitz Megaplex and then renamed it as CGV Blitz).“Every year, the number of screens, ticket sales, and the print and advertising (P&A) expenditure are soaring, and Thai viewers who used to prefer comedies or family dramas now also enjoy horrors thanks to the growing acceptance of genre films,” said MOON Sungjoo, a producer co-produced titles in Indonesia and Vietnam while working for CJ, about Thailand’s market. As such, the entry strategies vary from country to country but they share one thing in common: An effort to secure stable distribution channels. This common denominator implies that generating a stable lineup of local titles would be challenging without a reliable distribution network.CJ Entertainment and the producers alike agree that “localization” is key to success when it comes to co-productions. “Hollywood movies are universal, but in contrast, Korean movies face culture and language barriers,” saidYOON In-ho, head of CJ Entertainment’s PR team. The company launched remakes of Miss Granny across China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia for this reason. Still, this does not mean that remaking a film based on an existing Korean IP always produces better outcomes than discovering and planning a project based on a well-received, reputable local IP. Each option has its pros and cons. A Korean IP-based project can shorten the production time as it does not require searching for a promising local IP and qualified director. On the other hand, a remake may sound intriguing at first, but having a string of just remakes may not always work. Developing a local IP can generate content that can appeal to local viewers but searching for an appropriate director could be arduous if one is unfamiliar with the local market.In the end, building trust and consensus with local audiences and members of the film community is critical to generate a stable lineup and to do business overseas. “The quality of IPs that Korean producers own may turn out to be better than those being developed by local players. Nonetheless, the quality alone does not guarantee a triumph at the local box office,” warned MOON. He added, “When CADO CADO (directed by Ifa ISFANSYAH, 2016) was unveiled, the reaction I received was, ‘it is way too sophisticated,’ and this taught me that it is not easy to create content that is palatable to locals. I believe approaching the co-production arena only to sell IPs does not make sense in the long run.” He also advised, “Finding a partner who has a distribution capability and good relations with local theaters is of great importance.”Korea filmmakers have turned their eyes to the Southeast Asian market. There may be several reasons for this, but the saturated state of the Korean market is probably the biggest motivation for seeking an alternative channel for growth. Will Korea-Southeast Asia co-productions bring a synergy effect to both industries? Only time will tell.
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