South Korea is known as one of the few countries in which domestic films able to surpass Hollywood films, thus dominating the domestic film market. This unprecedented achievement has grabbed other countries’ attention who are wondering about the catalysts that underpinned South Korea’s success. Therefore in this essay, I will explain why and how the phenomenon, whereby the Hollywood films do not dominate the South Korea’s domestic film market. I will disintegrate this essay into three sections. In the first section of this essay, I will highlight the significance of “sintoburi” in curbing the domination of Hollywood films in Korean domestic market. In the second section, I will describe the effectiveness of screen quota system in protecting
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This is because, South Korean government believed that the capitals from chaebols would dramatically improve the quality of Korean film industry. This improvement will gradually attract audiences in watching local films and subsequently prevent the domination of Hollywood films. Under this favourable circumstances, Samsung had become the first chaebol to invest in domestic film industry. It had financed approximately twenty-five per cent of the production cost of the film Marriage Story directed by Kim Ui-Seok (Paquet 2009). Marriage Story had become a box office hit as the recorded total viewers in Seoul alone was 520 000 (Paquet 2009). Following the step of Samsung to invest in domestic film industry were Daewoo and Hyundai. However, chaebols’ investment had transformed since the late 1995. From only funding one part of production cost, they had provided capitals that cover all part of the production. By doing so, they believed that their resources in manpower, capital and marketing would be powerful enough to prevent the domination of Hollywood films. Moreover, a few chaebols also started to establish their own cable movie channels in order to produce local films. Unfortunately, the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 had forced the chaebols to revert their focus on their core businesses and withdrawn themselves from domestic film industry. This withdrawal had led to the emergence of second generation of chaebols such as CJ Entertainment, Lotte and Orion in the domestic film industry. Unlike the former chaebols who pursued a vertical integration system, the new chaebols engaged in the substructure of distribution and broadcasting (Kim 2006). They had built the first multiplex theatres that equipped with convenience facilities and the spaces for culture
This is because, South Korean government believed that the capitals from chaebols would dramatically improve the quality of Korean film industry. This improvement will gradually attract audiences in watching local films and subsequently prevent the domination of Hollywood films. Under this favourable circumstances, Samsung had become the first chaebol to invest in domestic film industry. It had financed approximately twenty-five per cent of the production cost of the film Marriage Story directed by Kim Ui-Seok (Paquet 2009). Marriage Story had become a box office hit as the recorded total viewers in Seoul alone was 520 000 (Paquet 2009). Following the step of Samsung to invest in domestic film industry were Daewoo and Hyundai. However, chaebols’ investment had transformed since the late 1995. From only funding one part of production cost, they had provided capitals that cover all part of the production. By doing so, they believed that their resources in manpower, capital and marketing would be powerful enough to prevent the domination of Hollywood films. Moreover, a few chaebols also started to establish their own cable movie channels in order to produce local films. Unfortunately, the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 had forced the chaebols to revert their focus on their core businesses and withdrawn themselves from domestic film industry. This withdrawal had led to the emergence of second generation of chaebols such as CJ Entertainment, Lotte and Orion in the domestic film industry. Unlike the former chaebols who pursued a vertical integration system, the new chaebols engaged in the substructure of distribution and broadcasting (Kim 2006). They had built the first multiplex theatres that equipped with convenience facilities and the spaces for culture