The Continuing US War with Korea Over the Hollywood Film Industry

You may already know from history that the Korean War never officially ended, due to an armistice agreement signed by both sides to halt hostilities. This fact is also represented in the ongoing friction between North and South Korea, as well as in some cases the United States.

One war still being waged by U.S. officials and the entertainment industry against South Korea is over the right to offer as many American movies as possible to the lucrative local cinema market.

Producer Richie Goldstein recently wrote a piece for the Daily Beast in which he outlines the history of U.S. cinema in Korea, as well as current challenges faced by Hollywood movie studios to adequately capture the Korean market. “Prior to World War II, a significant number of films shown in South Korea were American productions – as high as 60-70 percent in the years leading up to the war,” Goldstein said.

“It wasn’t until after relations between Japan and the United States started to become more acrimonious that U.S. film imports to South Korea declined precipitously.”

He says the U.S. movies studios are currently very concerned with capturing more of the cinema pie in South Korea – as well as other nations in the region. “The Asia-Pacific region – China, Japan, Korea – in total does more business for the U.S. film industry, that increasingly reliant on foreign grosses, than all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined.

He says South Korean audiences have generally welcomed American films in the country with open arms and the one that end up getting there are typically very profitable. “They become less popular especially with older Koreans, who see that kind of essentially American cultural intervention, or imperialism, as eroding their own domestic industry.”

The United States government’s war over South Korean cinema is currently focused on gaining a bigger share of that market, according to Goldstein, even despite the fact that the country has developed a very robust film production program of its own over the years.

Watch the full interview to also hear Goldstein explain how the United States used the 1988 Olympics in Seoul to enter the Korean film market, as well as his thoughts on the ironic appeal of rapper Rawcus, who has scored hits with Snapchat Me Them Titties, and White People Crazy.