Throughout this year many changes were implemented on all the different parts of life due to the recent Sars-CoV2, or Coronavirus-19, pandemic. Besides affecting basic aspects of human life, it has also affected the entertainment industry.
From groups that have disbanded and big and anticipated movie sequels not cashing in as much as expected, to the cancelation of overseas tours and an abundance of online activities, much has changed in the Korean entertainment industry, alike others in this world.
Starting with what could be called the good effects: overseas fans got more possibilities of interacting with their idols over on-line events and a more open access to platforms of companies like MyMusicTaste, 1theK, Naver VLive and Youtube joining forces to transmit live concerts, online fan meetings and Mention parties[1]. The amount of calls[2] has also increased significantly, alongside a growing collecting community.
It might seem contradicting to mention a high rise in calls and the collecting community but 2020 as also been a record high year for physical album sales, just like a quick search on the internet or on Gaon[3] can attest for, with the first half of this year even having registered an increase of 40%. With less things and activities to spend their money on, fans seem to have been more focused on showing their support on-line and by buying more physical copies of CDs from their favourite groups or soloists. With various survival shows also going on recently, many are the groups that are already breaking records right after debut on what was overall considered to be a difficult year. One of the biggest reflections of this point is ENHYPEN from label Belift Lab, a joint venture between the entertainment companies CJ E&M and Big Hit Entertainment, that have participated in the show I-Land and are currently breaking records of sales.
On another side, fans are also flocking to on-line activities like concerts which prices are not much different from live concerts. As restrictions relax and become more severe time and time again, fans feel like concerts will not happen in real life any time soon and so, they buy tickets for the on-line concerts and the bundles of ticket and merchandise, even tickets with extra benefits like soundcheck and live backstage.
Many yearly events like KCON or Dream Concert and yearly award shows like Asian Artist Awards were hosted online with access through previously bought tickets.
While it seems like this might have led to an increase in income, truth is that many of these events donated part of their profits to social institutions, like UNESCO’s #LearningNeverStops project when talking about KCON-TACT, or for funds meant to be distributed between struggling companies and artists and crew members like with helping with the Crew Nation relief fund project Live Nation, to which BTS and Big Hit donated to, or the donation of the proceeds of SSAK3’s music.
On the bad side of things, multiple were the groups that will no longer be active after this pandemic is over. From NeonPunch to SPECTRUM news of groups disbanding because the company was having economic difficulties left the fans shocked.
With tours being cancelled or postponed, shooting locations being limited, budgets decreasing and, adding to that, the fact that some of these groups were already less famous, caused companies to have to terminate exclusive contracts.
As per the big and small screens and streaming, the release of many series and movies were postponed due to difficulties finishing the shoots or with the postproduction.
Neftlix South Korean hit Kingdom season 3 is one of the affected series, currently dealing with delays in shooting. In the meantime, a spin-off series Kingdom: Anshin of the North was revealed to be released in 2021 with no final date confirmed. Other series seem, through multiple articles, to be on the making and have post productions delayed, like Arthdal Chronicles but no official confirmation from Netflix follows.
In the meantime, to adjust to the growing interest in South Korean dramas and movies, Netflix has been uploading popular, already finished recent and older movies and dramas, allowing viewers to have content while waiting for the new seasons.
The 2016 hit Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho has recently put out a standalone sequel Peninsula. Peninsula has been fairly anticipated by fans of the 2016 movie and even though it has 23 million of revenue, becoming of the top global hits of the year, that is less than a third of the achievements of Train to Busan, same goes for any of the other movies that came out this year.
However, this proved that when possible and safe, people will still go to the movies to see what they are interested in and, although the pandemic not yet over, it seems that the recent success of the South Korean blockbusters is here to stay.
[1] Mention parties, more commonly called menpas, are online gatherings of idols and their fans on Twitter or any other chat available where the idols reply to comments and questions in real time [2] Calls, in this context, refers to fancalls where fans that buy a new specific product from said group can try their luck to receive a video call or signed items from their idols. [3] Gaon Chart is a song and album chart created in 2010, one of the biggest in South Korea.
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