South Korea’s powerhouse studio Plus M Entertainment has revealed a raft of international collaborations to expand its global reach.
At a time when the South Korean film industry is facing profound challenges, Seoul-based studio Plus M Entertainment is looking beyond its borders to help reverse this decline and inject fresh life into the once booming local production scene.
To achieve this, the studio has built a robust slate of upcoming titles that includes a film billed as the biggest English-language feature ever made through the Korean studio system and remakes of foreign IP, while securing a major cross-border distribution partnership.
“I’ve always pondered different ways to reach audiences around the globe,” says Eugene Kim, Plus M’s head of content. “I wanted to produce a film without language barriers and found a partner who was thinking about the same topic — Don Lee.”
Lee, known locally as Ma Dong-seok, is the star of blockbuster franchise The Roundup, distribution of which was handled by Plus M, and is perhaps best recognised internationally for his role in Marvel superhero film Eternals. Together, they are making Pig Village, a hard-hitting action thriller that is shooting now in South Korea. Set against the backdrop of the US-Mexico border, it stars Lee as a bare-knuckle boxer who is caught in a web of corruption after botching a fixed fight in San Diego.
The project sees Lee reunite with filmmaker Lee Sang-yong, director of two instalments in The Roundup series, and the international cast includes Michael Rooker (Guardians Of The Galaxy) and Colin Woodell (Netflix series Pulse). Produced by Lee’s Big Punch Pictures, B&C Content and Nova Film, backers are Plus M and ABO Entertainment. Plus M will begin sales in Cannes.
“The Korean production system is incredibly reliable, and the competency of crew is outstanding,” says Kim. “My goal was to use these resources to their maximum potential. Pig Village is a project that began with a spirit of challenge, the idea that bringing Hollywood actors into Korea’s perfectly established production system would spark new synergies and directions.”
Plus M is also taking its development and production capabilities across borders with House With A Garden, a South Korea-Canada co-production that will be told in the English language. Planned to be set and shot in Canada, it is based on bestselling Korean novel Lies Hidden In My Garden, which was adapted into a drama series in 2023, and follows a housewife who begins to suspect her husband may have buried a body in the garden.
Director E.oni of Toronto 2024 title Love In The Big City is attached to direct and write. Also on board as writer is Anthony Shim of Toronto 2022 prizewinner Riceboy Sleeps. Partnering with Plus M is Rhombus Media, the Canadian outfit behind Park Chan-wook’s HBO series The Sympathizer and BlackBerry.
“It’s a project born out of trust between two companies that have consistently sought international co-productions,” says Kim, adding it is “imbued with Asian emotional sensibilities targeting the North American market”.
Diverse content
In addition, Plus M has acquired Korean-language remake rights for #No_Filter, an independent 2022 Belgian horror film from Black Swan Tales about a social media influencer. It signals the growing focus of the studio to explore international IP and secure high-potential properties for domestic content.
“In a time when the Korean film market is experiencing a prolonged slump, securing diverse content becomes more difficult,” says Kim. “However, we should not give up on securing this diversity. There must be varied attempts to discover a way out of this slump. In that vein, Plus M includes tentpole productions, mid-budget titles and low-budget independent films in its line-up.”
It all represents a fresh chapter for Plus M, which has built up a portfolio of development, production, financing, distribution and international sales since being founded in 2014 by Megabox, one of the biggest multiplex chains in Korea. The company is an affiliate of JoongAng Group.
As a distributor, Plus M recently handled the release of crime thriller Yadang: The Snitch, which ranks as the second biggest film of the year to date at the local box office, only behind Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17. Building on this expertise, an announcement is expected in the coming days about a partnership with a foreign company to set up content distribution pipelines and establish an alliance for international marketing strategies.
As Korean companies look to diversify in the face of a challenging local market, Plus M is making moves that may lay the groundwork for a reversal of fortune.
No comments yet