“The King and The Clown” Launches Licensing Business

The film "The King and the Clown", which made history in Korean movies by drawing more than 12 million viewers, will be expanded into many forms of licensed entertainment and other products.

The movie's producer Eagle Pictures and distributor Cinema Service have decided to launch a licensing business and signed a trust contract with the licensing company YZOO.

YZOO is seeking contracts with a publisher to publish educational comic books and novels based on the movie and with a character business to use the film's characters for stationery, cosmetics, and agricultural products.

YZOO president Yun Joo said Monday, "Although many Korean movies and dramas have gained so much popularity as to create the Korean Wave or Korea-pop culture craze throughout Asia, they have failed to take full advantage through licensing businesses because the rights to the portraits of actors and actresses belong to their respective agencies. But in the case of 'The King and the Clown', the producer and distributor own the rights, so they can start a licensing business".

The first product to be made will be educational comic books for children about King Yeonsan and his reign during the Joseon Dynasty, on which the movie is based. But it has yet to decide who will write the books. As for a novel, Kim Tae-woong, the playwright who wrote the original play the movie is based on, has agreed to a publication.

A variety of stationery products using film characters will also be developed by Art Service, a Cinema Service affiliate. Licensing programs will include cosmetics and agricultural products as well.

Eagle Pictures president Jeong Jin-wan said that they had worried that their effort could be seen as commercializing the success of the movie simply to make more money, but they decided to start the business to expand the added value of the movie.

"Considering that socks and dolls using the movie's characters are already on sale on the internet, our move is significant in eliminating any illegal acts", he added. "It may take ages for the Korean movie industry to do value added business using its entertainment properties like Hollywood, but I think it is worth trying for the development of the whole industry". "