Gong Gong·Park Bo Gum meets 16 billion sci-fi movie’Seobok’ at the same time at the theater and teabing

The sci-fi movie’Seobok’, starring Gong and Bo-gum Park, with a net production cost of 16.4 billion won, will be released at the same time as the original content of the theater and online video service (OTT) teabing on the 15th of next month after being postponed due to Corona 19. This is the first time that a new Korean film invested and distributed by CJ ENM has been released as an OTT after Corona 19.

On the 3rd, CJ ENM said, “In a situation where consumers’ perspectives and needs (requirements) for content are rapidly changing due to Corona 19,’Seobok’ has also decided to be released at Teabing to meet more audiences through various platforms.” Not only teabing, but also theater openings will take place at the same time.” He also explained, “We decided that it was a way to provide more options to the audience and coexist with theaters that are struggling with the absence of a release.

‘Seobok’ is a comeback after 9 years by director Yong-ju Lee,’Introduction to Architecture’, a famous first love movie. Park Bo-gum and Gong-gong, respectively, become humanity’s first cloned human, Seobok, and the intelligence agency who took on the last mission in his life to carry him in top secret, and engage in a chase with various forces aiming at Seobok. Initially, after reviewing the release in the summer of last year, the schedule was delayed to the end of the year due to the re-proliferation of Corona 19, and the lead sharing began to promote, but it was delayed again. Meanwhile, Park Bo-gum enlisted in the military.

This is the second time that a new movie from a Korean investor and distributor with a large multiplex chain was released on OTT, following Lotte Entertainment’s’Chainpyo’, which went directly to Netflix original in January this year. ‘Cha In-pyo’ was simultaneously released in over 190 countries around the world only on global OTT Netflix without the opening of the theater. ‘Seobok’ is the original teabing content in addition to the theater release, and will be released exclusively only at Teabing online in Korea. If you sign up as a Teabing member, you can view it without payment. Overseas distribution is carried out separately.

In the film industry, we note that’Seobok’ is a different masterpiece from’Cha In-pyo’, which was relatively low-budget. According to CJ ENM, if’Seobok’ is released only in theaters, the break-even point reaches 3.26 million viewers. It is interpreted that Teabing chose to open the theater and teabing of’Seobok’ at the same time in order to strengthen their own platform, like Disney’s own OTT, Disney Plus and other Hollywood film companies, as Teabing was launched as an independent corporation last year by CJ ENM. Teabing recently announced that it will invest more than 400 billion won over the next three years to secure quality original content with JTBC Studio joining.

CJ ENM’s position is that it is still only an example of’Seobok’, and it has not established its own OTT pre-disclosure policy direction. An official from CJ ENM added, “I was worried about the release of OTT because the theater system did not recover easily in the corona situation.” However, he added, “I feel the need to actively respond to the activation of the OTT market.” Teabing said, “Because’Seobok’ is a work that can provide specialized content experiences to teabing users, we decided to invest boldly. We plan to continue expanding the original content across various genres.”

Reporter Na Won-jeong [email protected]