Netflix’s huge US$500 million bet on Korean content in 2021, and what it means for viewers and the country’s other content producers
- In the five years since Netflix started backing Korean films and Korean dramas, it has spent US$700 million. This year alone it will spend US$500 million
- That investment covers star-studded series in a variety of genres, and its first original Korean films. Local producers will struggle to compete with that
Following its entry in the South Korean market five years ago, Netflix has quickly established itself as a dominant content provider.
The pandemic has accelerated its rise, and in Seoul on Thursday, the streaming giant doubled down on its investment in Korean drama production by announcing a dizzying slate of content for 2021, including the first Netflix original Korean movies.
Kim Min-young, regional vice-president of content, revealed Netflix was investing US$500 million in Korean content this year, and said subscriptions in South Korea had reached 3.8 million, demonstrating that the company’s aggressive expansion there has been effective.
The first two Korean Netflix Original films will be the action film Carter and the romantic drama Moral Sense. Directors Jung Byung-gil and Park Hyun-jin were welcomed on stage to present their projects.
Carter, which Jung, director of The Villainess, will helm, focuses on a man who wakes up in a motel with no memory of who he is. A voice in his ear calls him Carter, and he embarks on a mission to save a kidnapped girl.
Moral Sense, from Like for Likes director Park, is an adaptation of a webtoon of the same name about a company employee whose taste for kinky sex is accidentally discovered by a female co-worker.