A 500-million-won film pre-sold in 118 countries … CJ ENM’s new box-office formula

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*It has been translated using AI

So-young’s young son, Sun Woo, went missing nine years ago. The bus vanished, and her son became someone she could never see again. Unable to bear his absence, So-young lives on, talking to an AI recreation of her son. Though he was only an AI, Sun Woo retained the very image his mother remembered, making “AI Sun Woo” a perfect source of comfort. Then something like a miracle happened: Sun Woo, who had been presumed dead, returned as an adult.

The joy was short-lived, and conflict arose. The AI version of her son Sun Woo differed from the Sun Woo who had returned alive. Were the two the same person? That is the premise of director Yeon Sang-ho’s new film Paradise Lost. Based on the novel Black Inferno by Oh Seong-eun, the film explores identity conflicts caused by AI. Remarkably, it was made for just 500 million won. Despite its ultra-low budget, it drew more than 100,000 moviegoers within five days of its domestic release on the 21st of last month, and surpassed 150,000 on the 31st of last month.

The formula for box-office success in the film industry is changing. One after another, filmmakers are making bold bets on ultra-low-budget films or expanding their market reach through overseas localization strategies, in attempts to break with established production and distribution practices.

According to people in the film industry on the 1st, Paradise Lost, distributed by CJ ENM, was pre-sold in 118 countries. Its net production cost was just 500 million won, and revenues from overseas sales alone have already covered the production cost. It is an example of a departure from the formula of investing tens of billions of won in production and relying on high-priced star actors. A strategy that maximizes returns on investment rather than the scale of a hit is setting a new template for box-office success.

In Vietnam, the horror film Piphong: Blood Demon, in which CJ HK Entertainment, CJ ENM’s Vietnamese subsidiary, participated, became a box-office hit after opening last April. According to film trade publication Screen Daily, distribution of Piphong is being pursued in 20 countries, including North America, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. The film, a horror story based on a demonic legend passed down in Vietnam’s northern mountains, became the country’s top local horror film. Meanwhile, remakes of another CJ HK Entertainment film, Ma So: Forbidden Ritual, are being discussed in five countries, including South Korea, the United States, Japan and Thailand, beyond the sale of overseas rights.

That does not mean the company is committed solely to reducing investment. In the United States, CJ ENM is targeting the global over-the-top (OTT) market by using Hollywood’s production system. It is seeing tangible results, with the film Beasts and the series East of Eden becoming hits. Beasts, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, topped Netflix’s global English-language film chart shortly after its release last October. The seven-part drama East of Eden, based on the novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck, topped Netflix’s global English-language TV series chart shortly after its release. Both Beasts and East of Eden were produced by Fifth Season, the U.S. studio under CJ ENM.

Fifth Season has recently produced one hit after another, strengthening its position as a key studio leading CJ ENM’s U.S. content business. Its global success is seen as vindicating the strategic judgment of Jeong Jong-hwan, CJ ENM’s head of IP and platform business, who pursued the acquisition of Fifth Season in 2021. CJ ENM has also made meaningful strides in bringing Korean original IP to Hollywood: Bugonia, a remake of director Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet!, was nominated in four categories at this year’s Academy Awards.

The run of big-budget productions will continue next year. Ally, director Bong Joon Ho’s first feature-length animated film, is set for a global release in July next year. The project marks Bong’s first venture into feature animation and brings together leading production teams from 12 countries, including South Korea, France and the United Kingdom.

A CJ ENM representative said, “Our diverse efforts—from collaborations with Hollywood and discovering local IP in Vietnam to experimenting with low-budget films in South Korea—are producing results,” adding, “We will continue to strengthen our global competitiveness as an IP powerhouse.”

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.

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