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While the Korean film industry is struggling to mount a comeback to pre-pandemic levels with admissions down at around 45 percent, there is still a significant appetite for discovering the next “Super IP (intellectual property”).  Squid Game, though, an unprecedented success, sparked discussions in the industry surrounding the ownership of IP because Netflix held the rights to the show rather than the local production company behind it, Siren Pictures.

Uncoincidentally, the IP rights for Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022) that was also an immensely popular series were held by its production company, AStory. The company who produced Netflix’s Kingdom (2019) saw further opportunities having ownership of its IP.

Still, as the success of the Netflix animation KPop Demon Hunters (2025) produced by Sony Pictures suggests, US studios are capitalizing on the ever-rising popularity of Hallyu (Korean Wave) creating an interesting dynamic in Korea’s content ecosystem.

Korean studios both the major ones and smaller production companies are seeking to find IP that can potentially take off leading to multiple series, spinoffs and remakes. Some studios like Kakao are able to capitalize on their own webtoons, while a leading studio such as CJ ENM is in a position to collaborate with the various different players both at home and abroad to put together IP that can work for global and local audiences.

Super IP is not a new buzzword, titles like Miss Granny (2014) Along with the Gods (2017), Train to Busan (2016) and Parasite (2019) are earlier examples that are proving to be very lucrative IP with their full potential still not yet fully exploited.

With the whole contents industry shifting its focus to international markets and streaming, this week we will look at the major studios (CJ ENM, Lotte Cultureworks, Plus M Entertainment, Showbox and NEW) and their upcoming slates to track where IP in the Korean contents industry is heading.

CJ ENM (Bugonia, Japan Co-productions, AI)

One of Korea’s most powerful studios CJ ENM is continuing to focus on global markets. In the 2010s, the studio was actively seeking to increase its presence in territories like China, Southeast Asia as well as North America through its own IP such as the Miss Granny remakes and Snowpiercer (2013) film adaptation.

Following the historic evening at the 2020 Academy Awards when Parasite won Best Picture, there has been a growing interest in existing Korean IP.  Remakes of Korean films are not new, but the remake of Save the Green Planet! (2003) titled by Bugonia feels potentially significant given the pedigree involved. Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and produced by Ari Aster with Emma Stone starring as the lead, it has already generated a great deal of buzz ahead of a possible festival screening later this year in the fall. The film is an international co-production with CJ ENM working with Fruit Tree, co-founded by Emma Stone, Ireland’s Element Pictures along with Ari Aster’s company Square Peg Films.

In what is an interesting time for Japan-Korea international co-productions following a series of collaborations between companies in both countries, CJ ENM announced in 2024 that it will co-produce films and TV series with one of Japan’s top broadcasters, the TBS group. One of its first projects was MUGEN LOOP a game show where six challengers including Koko from the K-pop group Izna compete against each other in a hexagon-shaped space for a cash prize. It aired in Japan in March of this year in what is possibly a new chapter for Korea-Japan IP and international co-productions.

CJ ENM is also pursuing AI in a significant way having unveiled its first fully AI-generated animation series Cat Biggie at an industry event in late June titled K-Content Meets AI: How AI Technology is Transforming the Future of the K-Content Industry. It reflects how Korea’s industry is turning to AI in a variety of different ways as illustrated at this year’s BIFAN (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival) that will once again focus on artificial intelligence with a conference on the subject. CJ ENM is also banking on AI not only as a tool to produce and write films but to secure next generation IP. Cat Biggie will launch on YouTube in July.

Lotte Cultureworks (Omniscient Reader: The Prophet)

In the mid-2010s, Lotte Cultureworks teamed up with Realies Pictures to produce one of Korea’s most successful franchises Along with the Gods based on Joo Ho-min’s webtoon. The two films (Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) and Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018) collectively sold over 26 million tickets that turned Lotte’s fortunes around following a string of flops.

The studio is once again collaborating with Realies Pictures for one of the summer’s most high-profile films with Kim Byung-woo’s Omniscient Reader: The Prophet that’s based on the popular webnovel of the same name by Sing Shong that clocked up 200 million total views about a sole reader of a book who discovers events in the fictional world are turning into reality. He attempts to change the end of the story. The film stars Ahn Hyo-seop, Lee Min-ho and Blackpink’s Jisoo.

The webnovel is being seen as an example of “super IP” as it also being adapted into an anime produced by Crunchyroll owned by Sony, and Aniplex located in Japan signifying its potential overseas. The Korean live-action film has received financing from the Korean video game company Smilegate. Gaming remains a major driver of Korea’s cultural industry with exports totaling $8.394 billion in 2024 far exceeding that of films but it’s not common for gaming companies to invest in tentpole features.

Plus M Entertainment (Hope, Pig Village)

The studio Plus M Entertainment is also a major player in the local industry and it’s set to merge with Lotte Cultureworks after a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in May bringing together their IP.  

Plus M founded in 2014 by the multiplex Megabox, an affiliate of the JoongAng Group, which also owns JTBC, is tapping into the North American market with two of its projects Hope and Pig Village. The former is Na Hong-jin’s upcoming film set in a remote Harbor Town where residents are in a battle for survival as they come up against something they have never experienced before. It features two Hollywood actors Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender together with local stars Hwang Jung-min and Zo Insung. It was shot by Hong Kyung-pyo (The Wailing (2016), Parasite). Na Hong-jin is known for his relentless pacing in films The Chaser (2008), The Yellow Sea (2010) and The Wailing.

When the project was announced, Plus M said “Director’s Na’s new project Hope is not only a high-quality film but an enthusiastic project that has the potential to expand its IP to various content distribution channels.”  With Hollywood talent involved, the studio will be hoping it will further raise its potential overseas. 

Pig Village directed by Lee Sang-yong and featuring Don Lee – both of whom worked together on the first two Roundup films – is an English-language film set against the backdrop of the U.S.-Mexico border about a boxer (Lee) who gets involved in a web of corruption after a fight in San Diego.  The film also stars Michael Rooker, Colin Woodell, and Lisette Olivera. Distributed by Plus M and ABO Entertainment, the film is an international co-production with Lee’s Big Punch Pictures, B&C Content and Canada-based Nova Film producing.

Showbox (Colony, The Verdict)

In 2022 Showbox secured investment from the US Investment firm MCG as it sought more global projects. It revealed 40 new films and series during a launch event in 2022 that included Exhuma that would go on to sell close to 12 million tickets in 2023, and it is performed robustly internationally generating $8.3m in Vietnam and $2.3m in North America. At the event, Showbox CEO Kim Do-soo said the studio values “Super IP.”

The company’s upcoming slate includes Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony that centers on a biotechnology conference that is cordoned off by the authorities when a mutating virus rapidly circulates. It stars Jun Ji-hyun who doesn’t appear in feature films often, along Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook and Shin Hyunbeen. Given the film’s scale and stars, it will inevitably seek a global audience.

Following The Medium (2021) that was set in Thailand featuring local talent, the studio is continuing to work in the Southeast region with the Korea-Indonesia co-production The Verdict directed by Lee Chang-hee. Based on a screenplay written by Yoo Hyun-ho it follows a murder trial that takes a different direction when a lawyer gets involved. The film features an Indonesian cast led by Reza Rahadian.

Indonesia is also the setting for Park Kyun-kun’s Taboo: The Silent Day, a horror mystery by Park Kyung-hun that centers on a group of Korean friends on vacation in Bali but their trip takes an unexpected turn after breaking a mysterious urn.

NEW (Incarnation, The Second Child)

Contents Panda, NEW’s (Next Entertainment World) international business and ancillary rights division, is handling horror films Incarnation and The Second Child that appear to also be targeting the Asian region with their IP given the popularity of the genre in the region.

Roh Hong-jin’s Incarnation stars Korean American Stephanie Lee as a nun who works with a detective to solve a mystery surrounding a series of suicides. The film is reported to include elements of Vietnamese horror such a rituals and spirits. It comes as Korean films delving into the occult (Dark Nuns (2025), Exhuma) have been a draw at local the box office.

In Yu Eun-jeong’s The Second Child, Lim Soo-jung plays a mother who has lost her daughter but then encounters her doppelganger (Yuna) as she wrestles with an old family curse.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic