South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched its “Basic Plan for the Promotion of the Animation Industry” this week, announced more than $1 billion USD (1.5 trillion KRW) in funding to support the growth of the country’s animation sector through to 2029.
The scheme aims to help Korean producers pivot from a traditional focus on preschool content (such as the global sensation Baby Shark) and TV formats to an emphasis on theatrical feature films, content for global streamers and IP franchises. The plan also aims to address the structural limitations such as narrow audience base, broadcast-led distribution ecosystem and low production budgets.
The Ministry also announced the launch of a $140 million animation production fund (200 billion KRW), which it plans to expand to $1B over the next five years, as well as a new cash rebate system to encourage international co-productions and attract foreign investment in Korean animation projects.
Korean delegations will meet with potential overseas partners at national pavilions planned for major animation content markets in China and across Southeast Asia in the coming years. Localization support (dubbing, subtitling, regional marketing, etc.) will be handled by Korean Cultural Centers and K-Content Business Hubs around the world.
On a technology front, the government is developing an AI-based production ecosystem which will incorporate government funded training datasets for video content, and policy framework to support virtual humans, emerging media formats and generative AI short films. The Ministry is working in partnership with universities and creative institutions to train animation writers, producers and AI creators in pursuit of a pipeline that will support Korean animation production from conception to production, distribution and merchandising.
Korean animation has been on the rise with a number of local box-office hits, including the family fantasy-adventure Heartsping: Teenieping of Love (based on the series Catch! Teenieping from SAMG Ent.), which took in $7.7M from 1.24M admissions after is August 2024 debut and became the country’s second-highest-grossing film of all time (behind 2011’s Leafie: A Hen into the Wild). Most recently, faith-based feature The King of Kings, animated by Mofac and picked up by Angel Studios, opened at No. 2 at the box office earlier this month and has racked up $52.5M worldwide.
Outside theaters, Netflix will launch its first Korean animate feature Lost in Starlight on May 30. Produced by Climax Studio, the original modern romance is directed by Han Ji-won, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Han Ji-won. The Korean voice cast is led by Revenant stars Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung, who voice a young woman selected as an astronaut for a Mars probe mission who falls in love with a down-to-Earth musician before her launch, setting up the ultimate long-distance relationship.
[Source: ScreenDaily]
