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On the eve of Hong Kong Filmart (which takes place online from August 26 to 29 after postponing its physical event in March), the film industry turned to Peninsula’s Asian good fortune story, followed by Yeon Sang-ho until the 2016 success Train To Busan.
Selected in June for the Cannes 2020 label, South Korea’s zombie mystery gave the impression of being the first workplace release since the Covid-19 pandemic closed theaters in countries around the world this year.
With a budget of $16 million (KW19bn), Peninsula opened on July 15 in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, with countries in Asia and Europe (including the Nordic markets and the Netherlands) far behind, and within that more than four-week period has already raised more than $48 million at international box office, according to Panda Contents.The Seoul-based sales company has been coordinating for months with partners and the film’s national investor-distributor, NEW, to give this fledgling franchise a resounding take-off.
While it would possibly have difficulty adjusting to Train To Busan’s $140 million pre-owned global cash workplace, Peninsula is already a feat of distribution, its trajectory was fueled by a giant component through its predecessor’s successful journey, from the humming of the promotional name at Filmart 2016 to the World.bomb premiere as a screening at Cannes two months later.
Lim Teck, managing director of Clover Films, who bought films for Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, said: “I saw the promotion at Filmart 2016 and was the first customer of Train To Busan.I said to [Contents Panda], “First you have to sell me the next movie because I’m your lucky charm.”
“I don’t forget that at Cannes I met a buyer’s organization and talked about Train To Busan, but they said, “Oh, Korean videos are really trendy,” Lim says.It was the day before the screening. After the screening, everyone went crazy and Danny [Lee, foreign industry director at Contents Panda] made deals at Cannes at 3 a.m.
Panda Content then sold the zombie mystery of Yeon in 160 territories and had already sold Peninsula to 150 countries in the run-up to May 2020, when the Cannes Film Festival was originally scheduled to take place.
NEW and Panda content had Train To Busan in mind as they developed an optimal exit strategy for Peninsula.It would begin, the partners hoped, with some other animated world premiere in the Cannes segment, followed by a successful summer outing in Korea.This time, however, they also sought a more coordinated plan for other territories, with simultaneous or close enough release dates to those of Korea.
“Before, there was a feeling in the industry of: “How can a Korean film be a success?”». Train To Busan was the first film to overcome this situation,” says Danny Lee.Our leaders saw what kind of overtaking Train To Busan came here after a hit.So this time we were able to prepare ahead of time, run with national groups and coordinate [campaigns] and release dates not only for the film, but also for trailers, posters and other marketing elements.
But then came the pandemic, threatening to disrupt the most important plans.Cannes was forced to cancel its physical edition (eventually decided on Peninsula for the Cannes 2020 label) and several countries entered a total or partial blockade.
Even cinemas in countries like South Korea, which have had relative good luck containing the spread of Covid-19, have implemented strict estrangement measures with low seat rates.The public also, of course, decided to stay home.
But as the studies continued to defend themselves from top versions such as Tenet and Mulan, NEW and Contents Panda advanced, depending on the trusted distribution partners with which they had discovered good fortune in 2016.
“Since about 80% of our partners were suppliers who had also controlled Train To Busan, we worked well in combination and had absolute confidence,” Lee says.”We were already cooperating and communicating closely, while other films were hesitant, we should cut the tape boldly to reboot around the world during the pandemic.
“Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia opened the same week as Korea, and the week after Vietnam and others followed.We saw unprecedented opening figures when cinemas reopened without a new film to screen.This has brought theaters back to life and I’ve heard that Hollywood Studios are largely following the progress of this release, requesting updates to their branches.”
In Singapore, where the original film grossed $3.65 million, Peninsula has so far grossed only $2 million; in Vietnam, $3.5 million and in Malaysia $2.2 million.Taiwan has so far represented Peninsula’s most productive functionality with $11.4 million (surpassing $11 million in total from the first film), with local spouse Wayne Chang, CEO of GaragePlay/MovieCloud, praising The Agile Technique of Contents Panda.
“Some sales corporations have very strict policies on promotional curtains and can take a long time to review their own local version,” he says.”But Content Panda is very fast. They can respond with a review of everything in one day.Adapt the curtains for outdoor use. It’s helping a lot, because we probably couldn’t make all the artistic creations ourselves.”
Esther Yeung, head of sales and distribution at Edko Films, echoed her observations: “The local market in Korea is already so large, so foreign markets are secondary compared to many Korean companies,” she says.”But after [seeing the good fortune of] Train To Busan, they are more open to foreign markets.
“With Content Panda, your [international] team works harder with the national team and stores more with us.After Train To Busan, with The Gods and Parasite, everyone is and you can see that good fortune in foreign markets will help them expand word of mouth in Korea as well.
Edko Films premiered Train To Busan in Hong Kong and Macau, where it became the most successful Asian film of all time with $10 million.The peninsula was scheduled to open day and day with Korea, but Edko was forced to postpone the return of Hong Kong.to close the same day.
At first, the film was called Train To Busan 2 in some territories.While Yeon later clarified that Peninsula is not a direct sequel, taking position only in the same universe four years later, some sellers still like to position it in the market as a new franchise.
“We call it Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula.Like Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs
Well Go USA’s initial purpose is to have a giant theatrical premiere for the company’s solid target audience, the Korean diaspora, as well as Train To Busan’s fan base “that’s much broader than anything else we’ve experienced before.”The fan base helped Train To Busan deliver $2 million gross to the US.The U.S. and Canada, to the most sensible DVD and VoD sales lists, already having an “incredibly good” performance on Netflix, Pfardrescher notes.
The pandemic has left unresolved things regarding the launch of Peninsula in the United States, which is still scheduled for August 21 (Peninsula was also sold to the AMC Shudder-owned terror broadcast site, and the main points of the launch are being discussed).
In Taiwan, MovieCloud’s distribution brand, GaragePlay, released the film day and day with Korea.
“The reviews and everything that comes from Korea help us, however, in Taiwan, the audience topology is a little different, and when we saw the film, we learned that it was completely different from Train To Busan,” says Chang, who cites a division.in Taiwan among Taipei’s most attracted audiences and festivals and outdoor audiences that are most attracted to share prices.
“Outside Taipei, this represents 80% of the market, and there we announced it with a kind of Fast and Furious concept: Zombie.People enjoyed it. It’s running and chasing cars and you can hit all the zombies.And many more, zombies compared to the first in which you only had one zombie exercise.So outside of Taipei, we thought, “Oh, you have to enjoy this on the big screen!”
In Thailand, distributor Sahamongkolfilm International organized screenings for critics and industry just before the Korean launch.
“They said, “It’s like Fast and Furious is assembling Mad Max, so we promoted it,” says Gilbert Lim, the company’s executive vice president.”We’ve received a lot of reviews from critics and guerrilla marketing with academics dressed as zombies, walking the streets and buying supermarkets.”The film grossed $1.38 million in Thailand.
In Korea, Train To Busan registered 11.56 million local outlets.With double the production and marketing budget, monitoring would have required 5.42 million local admissions to strike balance.But thanks to the extensive pre-sale, the balance point of the film is 2.5 million.admissions, and even with pandemic estrangement and other restrictions in cinemas, has already surpassed it and lately stands at 3.7 million entries.
Theatrical releases have been suspended lately in the UK, France, Germany, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
“It’s not just about the box office, it’s also about the industry: the industry needed something big to cheer up morale,” sums up Wayne Chang of GaragePlay/MovieCloud.”Peninsula is vital not only in terms of the box office, but also to give some hope to cinemas.”
Endeavour Content is fully funded and manages sales rights.
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