ktown konnection #9 | Premieres: "My Name is Loh Ki-wan," "Wonderful World"

This week’s Top Global Titles ”Doctor Slump” rose to #5 then dropped to #6 on Netflix, “Marry My Husband” holds at #3 on Amazon Prime Video, and among Viki’s Top 20 are “Knight Flower,” “My Happy Ending,” and “Queen of Divorce.”

“A Killer Paradox” tops Netflix Korea 🇰🇷 The series held on to the top spot, followed by kdramas “Doctor Slump” at #2 and “Captivating The King” at #4.

March 1 is Independence Movement Day Distinct from Korea’s Independence Day (August 15), the March 1 Movement commemorates Korea’s independence movement in 1919 during Japanese colonial rule. A day marked by protest, it was one of the most significant public displays of Korean resistance, calling for independence from Japan during a time of harsh cultural repression and forced assimilation.

Some titles with independence movement narratives include “Assassination” and the recent “Gyeongseong Creature.”

PREMIERES

• February 28 “The Impossible Heir” (Disney+)

• March 1: 

  • “Wonderful World” (MBC) (Disney+)

  • “My Name is Loh Ki-wan” [feature] (Netflix)

Cha Eun-woo (“A Good Day To Be A Dog”) co-stars with Kim Nam-joo for revenge drama “Wonderful World.” Song Joong-ki (“Vincenzo”) is back with a new film, playing a North Korean defector.

Sneak peek: High school survival thriller “The Pyramid Game” gets released on TVING today (Korea); it’s slated for global streaming later on Paramount+ as part of a partnership deal. ContentAsia

Wednesday-Thursday Feb 28-29
“Queen of Divorce” (JTBC) (Viki)
“The Impossible Heir” (Disney+)

Friday-Saturday Mar 1-2
“Flex x Cop” (SBS) (Disney+,Hulu)
“Wonderful World” (MBC) (Disney+)

Saturday-Sunday Mar 2-3
“Captivating The King” (tvN) (Netflix)
“Doctor Slump” (JTBC) (Netflix)

Monday-Tuesday Mar 4-5
“Love Song For Illusion” (Viki)
“Wedding Impossible” (tvN) (Viki)

(*Streaming platforms shown are for U.S. only; distributors vary by country.)

KDRAMA/FILM/TV NEWS

Pricey pairing 📈 Actor Lee Jae-wook (“The Impossible Heir”) and K-pop girl group Aespa member Karina went public with their relationship. The news had a swift market reaction: shares of SM Entertainment, the company which reps Aespa, dipped $50M in value. KJD (Sidenote: this gives me a kdrama flashback in which a bougie mother throws money at a young ingenue to stop dating her son.)

Young Son Sok-ku CGI character In an interview, “A Killer Paradox” director Lee Chang-hee reveals that the young version of Son Sok-ku’s character was no actor: it was completely CGI.

Strike-delayed Bong Joon-ho’s next feature has been pushed back to 2025. Variety

British boyband goes to K-pop boot camp “Made in Korea” will see a British boyband head to Korea to get some K-pop knowledge dropped on them. The reality series is getting distributed by ITV. Variety

(Sidenote: remember when BTS got schooled by the late Coolio on hip hop in 2014?)

STREAMING NEWS

Hollywood‘s OTT distresses Korean industry A new article by Bloomberg shares Hollywood’s backlash on the (increasingly distressed) economic landscape of the Korean content industry.

Here are some highlights:

• The Netflix boom: talent quickly got snapped up by studios, and A-list stars shifted to TV from film, with the draw of global streamers.

• Korea’s content became a hot global export with streaming, as Korean dramas exploded in popularity internationally.

• However, creators have not benefited while distributors have profited, production costs have increased for Korean productions, and ad sales and subscriber growth on Korean streaming platforms Wavve and TVING have not kept up.

• Netflix, which has 50% of the Korean market, posted gains and aggressively invested in Korean content, while Wavve and TVING posted a huge loss (-$165M USD).

• Platforms are continuing to struggle to compete against Netflix.

• Factoring in last year’s actors’ and writers’ strikes in Hollywood, Western content buyers are cutting back on content spending overall (though Netflix has pledged a $2.5B Korean investment).

It’s no wonder the Korean TV industry is facing a crisis with an increasingly distressed business, with the country’s labor unions just beginning to fight for their own rightful piece of the pie, just as their Hollywood counterparts have done.

I’ll be doing a deeper dive into this in an upcoming issue.

Meanwhile, stateside OTT 🇺🇸

WBD posts profit Warner Bros. Discovery posted a profit of $106M for 2023, driven by Max, ad tiers, and international markets. Apparently it’s the first Hollywood media conglomerate (i.e. not Netflix) to turn up out of the red from streaming; things are also looking up for Paramount.

The state of theatrical windows Theatrical windows (i.e. the time period between a feature film’s release and before it hits streaming platforms) have reached an industry average of 37 days. It’s no standard; distrib windows ranged from 18 to 122 days. IndieWire

January 2024’s record TV viewing 📺 Last month had some of the highest TV streaming recorded, driven by YouTube and the NFL (excluding linear TV). Nielsen

SOUTH KOREA NEWS

Medical protests 🩺 South Korea’s government has warned doctors to return to work on March 1. Military doctors may be sent to fill in during the meantime. Reuters

Fertility rate drops even lower Korea’s fertility rate hit a new record low; the nation also has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD. Reuters

Disclosing baby gender A law banning physicians from revealing a baby’s gender before 32 weeks of pregnancy was ruled unconstitutional. KJD

“Exhuma” tops box office 🍿 The feature film “Exhuma” starring Choi Min-sik and Kim Go-eun had a record opening, with roughly 2 million tickets sold over opening weekend, generating $16.8M USD in revenue. Variety

Last year’s best selling album? “FML” by K-pop boy group Seventeen was the globally bestselling album of 2023, beating out Taylor Swift. The IFPI chart is based on “an album's sales across streaming, download and physical formats around the world.“ Reuters

Coca Cola x K-pop Coca Cola has a new product, Coca Cola Zero K-Wave, available in 36 countries. A music video (jingle?), “Like Magic,” commemorates the launch, along with a partnership with JYP. Inside Retail

HYBE’s new MORPG The gaming arm of entertainment company HYBE is releasing its first global fantasy game, ASTRA: Knights of Veda. Gamers can pre-register on March 5. GamesPress

Lotte and Shinsegae’s competish 🛍 Online retailer Coupang reported record sales for 2023. Department stores have good reason to heed other tales. The Korea Times

Low enrollment 🎓 Universities are reporting low enrollment numbers, cited is the country’s low birth rate. The Korea Times

Budgeting millennials Koreans in their 30s and 40s are cutting back on spending while balancing the cost of living (i.e. housing) amid high interest rates. The Korea Times

Senior housing woes Public housing dedicated to senior citizens are in short supply. Senior housing only accounts for 0.6% of elderly households; the poverty rate among the age group is 39%. The Chosun Daily

Foreign work permits More work visas are in the works for non-Koreans starting in April; targeted are labor shortages in the hospitality sector - hotels and restaurants. The Korea Times

Busan’s Michelin stars The Michelin Guide includes Busan for the first time, recognizing a total of 43 restaurants in the port city. KJD

Tous Les Jours, but halal 🥐 The Korea-based bakery chain has been booming in Indonesia, which now has over 60 stores. KED Global

K-food cravings fuel tourism A recent survey found that tourists cited Korean food as a driving force behind their travel to Korea. What they wanted to eat the most? Pork belly and beef short ribs. Also selling like hotcakes: strawberries and banana milk.

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