Made at home, paid for abroad: Global presales rewrite the business model for Korean cinema

Korean blockbusters are selling out abroad before they open at home — and changing how the country's film industry works.

International presales, once a welcome bonus for Korean productions, have become a financial lifeline. With domestic theater attendance still below pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels, a growing number of Korean films are now recouping their production budgets through overseas deals struck months before opening night — driven by a handful of directors whose reputations have made them reliable commodities on the global market.

The trend is playing out in real time across several of this year's releases.

Yeon Sang-ho's zombie thriller "Colony," which opened last month, broke even within 10 days, crossing its threshold of 3 million admissions well ahead of schedule. The film cost 17 billion won ($11 million) to produce, and its theatrical breakeven would normally exceed 5 million admissions, but presales to 124 countries ahead of its Cannes premiere brought that figure down significantly.

"Colony" began selling at last year's Cannes Film Market. By the time it screened in the Midnight Screenings section last month, roughly 70 percent of its projected international sales had already been secured. Yeon's track record as director of global hits "Train to Busan" (2016) and "Peninsula" (2020) accelerated deals.

"Strictly speaking, 'Colony' is not a sequel, but we sold to around 150 countries and territories, centering on the overseas distributors who handled 'Train to Busan' and 'Peninsula,'" said Ahn Jeong-won, head of international business at Showbox, which invested in and distributed the film.

Yeon's upcoming thriller, tentatively titled "Silnakwon" or "Paradise Lost," due in the second half of this year, has already recovered its entire net production budget through overseas presales before shooting a single frame of domestic marketing.

The film sold on the strength of Yeon's signature high-concept approach. Known internationally through Netflix for the fantasy series "Hellbound" (2021-24),  the creature feature "Parasyte: The Grey" (2024) and the science fiction film "June_E" (2023), Yeon made "Silnakwon" as a low-budget independent production — his second in that mode after "The Ugly" (2025).

The film weaves an AI premise into the story of a mother reunited with her son nine years after he vanished in a mysterious accident.

"The concept around AI is clear and precise," said Ko Kyeong-beom, head of global projects in the film division at CJ ENM, which invested in and distributed the film. "What makes a film global comes down to two things: the director's international reputation, and a transnational concept that can be understood anywhere."

Director Na Hong-jin's science fiction action film "Hope," set for theaters in Korea in July,  has already recovered half of what is believed to be the highest net production budget in Korean film history through overseas presales alone. It is Na's first foray into alien science fiction, following the crime thriller "The Chaser" (2008) and the mystery horror "The Wailing" (2016), which built him a devoted fan base at home and abroad.

"Hope" also drew rare attention when it was invited to compete at Cannes — unusual for a sci-fi action blockbuster — and last month effectively sold out across more than 200 countries and territories, generating revenue in the mid-20 billion won range and setting a new record for Korean film international presales. The film's original theatrical breakeven, estimated by the industry at around 10 million admissions, is now expected to fall significantly.

"Hope" will begin its overseas theater run this autumn in North America, where it will be distributed by Neon — the company that handled Oscar-winning "Parasite" (2019) — before opening in other markets.

"Because contracts are structured so that we share in overseas box office performance, the international revenue from 'Hope' is expected to grow further," said Plus M Entertainment, which invested in and distributed the film in Korea. 

The pattern is now built into how these films get made. For directors with established global reputations, production budgets are designed from the development stage with international sales potential in mind. Deals begin early, are built on longstanding networks with overseas industry players and newer bidders offering more aggressive terms help drive up a film's market value.

Cannes-winning director Park Chan-wook's "No Other Choice" (2025), which competed at the Venice Film Festival last year, is the clearest example.

The film secured minimum guarantees — upfront payments from distributors against a guaranteed minimum return — in North America and France at around five times the rates achieved by "Parasite," and had already recouped its entire 17 billion won net production budget through presales to more than 200 countries before its domestic release in September last year.

"Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho's first animated feature, "Ally," targeted for completion in the first half of next year, reflects how early the global calculus now begins. CJ ENM started developing the project with Bong in 2019, the year "Parasite" swept four Academy Awards, and has since brought in French major studio Pathé Films and the Penture K-Content fund as co-investors and co-distributors.

"As K-content has come into the spotlight, the top creative talents in Korean film have started conceiving films with a global audience in mind from the outset," said CJ ENM's Ko.

Overseas partners are also increasingly approaching Korea first. Upcoming "The Hole," an English-language film directed by Kim Jee-woon and shot in Korea on commission from Hollywood production company Department M, recently secured a distribution deal with distributor Orion Pictures that more than covers its production budget of $12 million.

"Korea has become hot lately, and American producers have shown real interest in shooting here," said Choi Jae-won, chief executive of Anthology Studios, which served as lead producer on the film. "They were also pleased that production costs are lower than in the United States, and that the standards of Korean crews are high."

BY NA WON-JEONG [[email protected]]