The Analysis of Film production as a popular cultural production in Essay

The Analysis of Film production as a popular cultural production in Korea - Essay Example The poor quality of the films in Korea was due to limited budget of production and lack of well-developed system and structures compared to the Hollywood films which had taken over Koreans’ market. Between 1993 and 1998, the Korean market share in the film industry had steadily decreased by 15% threatening its existence in the industry. The film Shiri which was a hit in 1999 was about a North Korean spy who was preparing a coup in Seoul and it sold more than two million tickets. It also recorded more than 5 million viewers catapulting to the top of the South Korean box office and took the place previously held by the film ‘Titanic’. This film made the Samsung Entertainment group to create a production system and also initiated large-scale fundraising of money to improve the film industry. Koreans market share in the film industry also increased by 39.6 percent. This was a great achievement in the Korean popular cultural production as it brought fame to the country . The increase in the market share also inspired many Korean film-makers convincing them that good financial support system and a selected quality can make Korean film productions successful. The film Shiri also opened doors for other films in Korea such as the Matrix to gain fame in the world. Additionally, the five-day working week law applied in this country promoted its film production in a big way since most people visited theatres during their long weekends. As a result, the Korean film market expanded by 18% annually and by 2002, the film industry had over 100 million audiences. As of 2004, many Korean films had become more popular in the world than the Hollywood films. In addition, major distributors of the Hollywood movies such as Warner Brothers and DreamWorks saw great potential in Korean films and began to acquire the copyright of remakes of the several movies  that had been big hits the Korean market.