[Korean Film News] Production Up, Profits Down In Korean Film Industry

Of the 108 movies released this year, only 13 broke even. Cidus FNH, which produced 12 movies this year, painted a bleaker picture, saying that only three films passed the break-even point.

According to a survey conducted by the Korean Film Council, the number of viewers for Korean movies released in Seoul for the first 11 months of this year was about 23.6 million, an increase of only 0.1 percent from last year. The movie market has witnessed a serious polarization in terms of an ability to attract viewers. "The Host," "The War of Flower," "My Boss, My Teacher," "Hanbando" and "Our Happy Time" attracted nearly 11.35 million Seoul viewers, or 38.2 percent of the total viewership there. Only six Korean movies released in 2006 drew an audience of over 3 million nationwide. "The King and the Clown," which set a record with about 12 million viewers, and "Typhoon," which attracted 4.1 million, were exempt from the data, as they were released in late 2005.

With an average release of two new domestic movies per week, the result has been fiercer competition in marketing and higher production costs. According to the film council, average production costs were slowly rising until last year, but have soared in 2006. The industry predicts production costs for the average South Korean film to be over 5 billion won (US$5.4 million). In comparison, the average production cost stood at 2.5 billion won in 2001, 3.7 billion won in 2002 and 4.17 billion won in 2005.

[Source: The Hankyoreh]

For more info, read "Korean film industry has lost some sparkle" at JoongAng Daily

And for Mark Russell's decidedly more optimistic outlook, read "Embarrassment of Riches: Korean Movies 2006 Wrap-Up" at Korea Pop Wars