KOREA FOUNDATION

Many Korean movies that were commercial hits upon their release in the domestic market have been remade in other countries to varying degrees of success. Two examples of those that failed to live up to the success of their original Korean films are the American versions of Oldboy and My Sassy Girl. However, it is encouraging that there have been far more successes than failures.

The first Korean film to be remade in Hollywood was Il Mare, released in 2000. In 2006, it was released in the US under the title The Lake House to fairly good reception, easily breaking even. Christmas in August, starring Han Suk-kyu and Shim Eun-ha, was released in Korea in 1998 and its 2005 remake in Japan was a big success.

The Man from Nowhere, starring Won Bin, was released in Korea in 2010. In 2016, the movie was remade in India as the Bollywood production Rocky Handsome, raking in a total profit of KRW 5.8 billion (approximately USD 5.2 million by the current KRW-USD exchange rate).

Miss Granny, released in Korea in 2014, was remade in many countries — including China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam — and its Vietnamese version enjoyed record-breaking success. Sunny, which premiered in Korea in 2011, was also remade in Viet Nam as the box office sensation Go-Go Sisters. Recently, Bloody Moon Fest, a Vietnamese remake of Intimate Strangers, which attracted 5.3 million movie-goers after its release in Korea in October 2018, topped local lists of box office hits.

In China, a remake of On Your Wedding Day, a coming-of-age romance starring Park Bo-young and Kim Young-kwang released in Korea in 2018, became the most successful Chinese version of a Korean movie. Previously, Big Match, a 2019 remake of the Korean film Veteran, had topped lists of successful Chinese adaptations of Korean films, posting a profit of RMB 380 million.

Korean Filmsremakebox office sensation