Korean Cinema in 'Precarious Period' Due To Netflix, Says Director Jang Joon-hwan

An anonymous reader shares a report: When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema. But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho's international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.

The director Jang Joon-hwan said K-cinema was struggling after the arrival of Netflix and other streaming platforms, with movies often rushed on to streaming platforms, and box office ticket sales suffering as a consequence. Jang, whose 2004 cult sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet is being remade by the Poor Things director, Yorgos Lanthimos, said Korean cinema was going through a 'very precarious period' because Korean viewers would increasingly prefer to wait for films to come out on streaming platforms than pay more to go to the cinema.

'I hope that such a day comes that Korean films are being introduced to wider audiences and we can all enjoy them together, however as a Korean film director in Korea, [it's] a very difficult and challenging time with the advent of Netflix and the [streaming] platforms. In this post-pandemic period cinemagoers have dropped dramatically, so investment has dropped. There are less Korean films being made,' he said. But he acknowledged that platforms such as Netflix had 'introduced a lot of new international fans to Korean content,' through hit shows such as Squid Game.

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