Courtesy of b.vimeocdn.com
3 December 2012
FILM: CJ Entertainment and Media Pictures, also known as CJ E&M Pictures, is using the recent American K-pop upsurge to branch out into the U.S. market.
By Isabel De Le Garza, Senior Writer
CJ Group is one of the largest South Korean business conglomerates with subsidiaries in many areas including transportation, produce, pharmaceuticals and media. Today, one of its subsidiaries, CJ E&M, is not only the largest film distributor and investor in South Korea, but also one of the jumpstarters of DreamWorks SKG and the South Korean multiplex cinema. Its film investments and productions also helped boost the South Korean economy during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Since then, the CJ Group has become the owner of the largest multiplex theatre chain in Korea and CJ E&M has become the official South Korean distributor of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks films.
Although CJ E&M had some previous investments in America, such as one branch of its CJ CGV Theatres in Korea Town’s district of Los Angeles (which opened in 2010), it did not make active gains in the American market. It began to bring Korean media to America in May 2012 by screening one of its newest film productions, I AM: SM Town Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden, at its L.A. CGV Theater during the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Unfortunately, it did not take off, as few American K-pop fans knew about the film’s screening. There has been an increase of interest in Korean entertainment in the United States since Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and his American record deal, so the company has recently decided to bring its films back to America on a more definite basis.
CJ E&M gave a sneak preview of this attempt by screening I AM and other films it had produced at KCON and released a schedule of the films yet to come to U.S. theatres and stores. Sunny, the first of these films, was released before the convention in August on Amazon and Best Buy, and the film MASQUERADE was released in the L.A. CGV branch and several other theatre chains all over America. CJ E&M also released Perfect Number at its L.A. CGV Branch in October, and as of November has released I AM: SM Town Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden to Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon. Soon it will be releasing its newest film, A Werewolf Boy, in L.A., Fullerton, Las Vegas, Irvine, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Queens, Atlanta, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto and Vancouver.
Courtesy of www.dvdactive.com
CJ E&M is working hard to reach out to its target audience. It is subtitling every single film it produces, making its products readily available through announcements and numerous venues, introducing many of its films to the American market and getting rid of the problem of differing region codes by producing region 1 code DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Other companies such as YA Entertainment and WellGo USA Entertainment have been trying to bring Korean and other Asian films and TV series to American audiences; however, neither produces its own films. Both companies currently license, repackage and sell films and programs from various Korean media, entertainment and broadcasting corporations, and one, YA Entertainment, has decided to close down. CJ E&M may have an advantage over these groups as it is producing its own films and does not have to worry about acquiring licenses for films. Whether or not it will cease activities in the U.S. is another story entirely. One thing’s for sure though: Korean media and pop culture is hitting America a lot faster than expected.
*: very formal for Hello in Korean.