Korea's heartthrob kwon Sang-woo dropped his $1.9-million lawsuit against his former agency. Kwon and his ex-agency Best Flow (formerly Yuri International) have been locked in an eight-month legal battle over the allegation of Best Flow pocketing Kwon's share of profit worth 1.9 million dollars. Best Flow had also sued Kwon for defamation and embezzlement, but this suit has been withdrawn as well. The two ...More

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Actor kwon Sang-woo said in a lawsuit filed to a local court Monday that he was blackmailed by a mobster, changing his court testimony made seven months ago.

He sued Yuri International, his former agency, for not paying him his proper salary and asked the company to compensate him 1.8 billion won. He said his former agent ignored his being threatened by Kim Tae-chon, former boss of the Kwangju-based Seobangpa crime family. Kwon also said he asked the company several times to change his agent, but it refused to do so.

Kwon gained stardom for his role in SBS hit drama " Stairway to Heaven" in 2004. He is one of the highest paid actors in the Korean...More

The Korean film industry seemed to be in full bloom in 2006 with hits such as "The Host" and "The Royal Jester (formerly "The King and the Clown")" attracting more than 10 million customers at the box office.

A total of 108 domestic films, including this week's "My Wife is a Gangster 3", have opened in theaters nationwide. The number has skyrocketed since 2005's 83 films and is the biggest number of films made since 1990. And in 2007 over 60 percent of the films shown here were Korean made.
Even with these record-breaking numbers, the reality in Chungmuro (the area where Korean film production companies have been concentrated, to such an extent that the word is now synonymous with the phrase "Korean film industry") is very different. Although there have been more movies, they have made less profit than in previous years. In short ― the industry is not making enough money.

Return on Investment is minus 30 percent
Based on theater profits alone, the return on investment this year is estimated to be minus 30 percent. This figure was produced by CJ Entertainment on the basis of 85 films (which includes all the big releases and only excludes a few low budget movies) that were made by the major production companies.

This is the worst figure for the Korean film industry since 2002, when it suffered a string of movies that failed at the box office. Since then, the industry has been dragging itself along with foreign imports and has been only marginally profitable.
Production costs this year were close to 5.3 billion won ($5.7 million) per movie, which means that to break even a film must be seen by at least 1.8 million paying customers, according to data released by the Korean Film Council. The council says that only 15 of this year's movies attracted a large enough audience to make a profit. Roughly speaking, this means that only one out of five movies reached break-even point.
This year also saw fewer big hits. Although two movies had audiences of over 10 million, the number of movies attracting 3 million people or more was less than last year. Additionally, the number of movies which did not meet the 300,000 mark has increased. So although two hits were record-breakers the rest did not do so well.

Anxiety concerning over-investment becomes a reality
Although the data produced by CJ Entertainment did not include exports or additional royalties f...More