Korean-Chinese joint projects are being made actively. Such joined efforts started quite a while ago, but the numbers have recently increased exponentially. The way they are made has changed and the connection has become stronger. As the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television signed the ‘Agreement Between the Governments of Korea and China Concerning Co-Production of Films’ on July 3rd, many await to see if this agreement will bring positive results to future projects.

Korean-Chinese joint projects are made in various forms. Production companies of the two countries have split the production costs, offered shooting locations to each other, shared actors and staff members, or supported each other for post-production costs. A Wedding Invitation (directed by OH Ki-hwan), which was a huge success earning 190 million CNY (31 million USD) in China, was a format in which a Korean director worked under the Chinese filmmaking system and might be considered a passive participation from the Korean side. While CHANG Yoon-hyun’s Pyeongan-do will be made in a more strongly connected system. They collected production cost by mutual investment of Korea and China. Both the director and producer are Koreans.

Pyeongan-do is a thriller about an ocean exploration team that drifts on an island and tries to run away from an unknown deadly threat. In this film, Chinese actors including HUANG Li Xing and DAI Li Ren will act as exploration team members struggling to escape the fearful island. As it was known early on that CHANG Yoon-hyun, who directed The Contact (1997) and R-Point (2004) will be directing Pyeongan-do, it gathered much attention. Pyeongan-do was collaboratively planned and produced by CJ E&M, Chinese ShìJìLèChéng(世纪乐成), C2M and Media Asia and was shot in Bejing and Shenzhen, China. It is planned to be released within the second half of this year in China.

 
  
Another Korean-Chinese project is My New Sassy Girl, and the shooting of the film started last month. It is a sequel to My Sassy Girl which was released in 2001. The sassy girl (Victoria) and Geon-woo (CHA Tae-hyun) will act as a newly married couple. My New Sassy Girl is a joint film between Korea’s ShinCine Communications and Chinese Beijing Motianlun Media Co.,Ltd. It is noteworthy that this is the first project led by Korean staff since the agreement was made in July. Beijing Motianlun Media is a famous production company that made a profit of 450 million CNY (73.5 million USD) with its initial project My Old Classmate.

More joint films are coming up. Meiking Paemilli (Making Family) starring KIM Ha-neul is a film about an independent woman and a man who is not interested in family or marriage that are put in an unexpected situation and end up becoming a family. KIM Ha-neul plays the role of a documentary producer GO Mi-yeon. Her partner is played by Li Zhiting, a rising star in the Chinese film industry who won the New Performer award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2010.

Lee John H, the director of A Moment To Remember (2004) and Sayonara Itsuka (2010), worked with SONG Seung-heon to make Korean-Chinese film Jesamui-Sarang (The Third Love), which is currently under post production. Jesamui-Sarang (The Third Love) is based on a Chinese best seller ‘The Third Kind of Love’ and was made to a drama ‘Qie Ai’. Another co-production film is 拆婚联盟 Chāi Hūn Lián Méng which will be released in China on Novermber 28th. 拆婚联盟 Chāi Hūn Lián Méng was co-produced by Vanguard Studio of Korea and East Sea Group and Rich Glory of China. 4.5 billion KRW (40 million USD) was spent on the production. HONG Jee-yong, a producer at Vanguard Studio, explained how the co-production worked out saying, “All of the production cost was invested from China and Korean manpower was put in to make 拆婚联盟 Chāi Hūn Lián Méng. Chinese film industry is interested in human resource, technology and infrastructure of the Korean film industry.”

JOO Won, who recently worked with OH Ki-hwan for Fashion King, is heading for China as well. Xia You Qiao Mu (Passion Heaven), a story about the relationship between 3 men and a woman, was cinematized from an Internet novel that had been very popular in China for 4 years. Chinese national distributor, investor and production company China Film and Yuehua Entertainment planned, invested and will distribute together. JO Jin-kyu, who made My Wife Is A Gangster 3 (2006) and Man on the Edge (2013) will take the director’s chair.
'The shooting of Weding-baibeul (Wedding Bible), another joint film, was recently finished. Directed by HUH In-moo and starring YOO In-na and AHN Jae-hyun, this film is about the encounter of destiny of 4 men and women who dream of the perfect marriage.

The Chinese film industry is leading the film market with enormous capital and infrastructure which beat Japan and became the second biggest film market as of 2012. The Chinese box office marked 21.8 billion CNY (3.6 billion USD) in 2013 and continues to grow in size. In this situation, interest grows around whether Korean-Chinese joint projects will lead overall culture of Asia.