Following K -pop, dramas, and movies, animation is poised to continue the ‘K-content boom ‘.Following the domestically produced animation’ The Life of Jesus ‘breaking a new record for Korean film sales in North America,’ master directors ‘such as Bong Joon-ho and Kim Tae-yong are jumping into animation production one after another.

According to Box Office Mojo on the 7th, the domestically produced animation’ The Life of Jesus ‘, which was released in North America last month, has earned $57,859,550(approximately 80.2 billion won), more than double its production cost(36 billion won).As of the 27th of last month, the 17th day of screening, it has surpassed the final sales of’ Parasite ‘(53.84 million dollars), the previous highest-grossing Korean film in North America.

That’s not all.It earned $19.05 million(KRW 27 billion)in its first week alone, beating out Hollywood major studio DreamWorks ‘The Prince of Egypt(1998)for the highest opening score for a religious animated film of all time, and even received rave reviews, including A + CinemaScore.

‘ The Life of Jesus ‘, which achieved such unexpected box office success, is an adaptation of’ The Life of Our Lord ‘written by the great British author Charles Dickens, and was produced with domestic capital by Jang Seong-ho, CEO of Mopac Studio, a domestic VFX(visual special effects)company, and cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung.

Meanwhile, K-animation is continuing to thrive in domestic theaters where foreign animations such as Disney Pixar in the US and Ghibli in Japan are strong.Recently,’ The Exorcist ‘, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, surpassed 500,000 viewers, achieving unprecedented box office success for a domestic animation aimed at adult audiences, and was also pre-sold to 12 countries including Vietnam and Turkey.The production company has started production on a sequel.

In this situation, leading Chungmuro directors are jumping into animation directing one after another, and the status of K-animation is expected to rise even higher.Director Bong Joon-ho has chosen an animation dealing with deep-sea creatures as his next work, and director Kim Tae-yong, who created’ Manchu ‘and’ Wonderland ‘, has decided to direct an animation called’ Kkokdu ‘based on a play.

Netflix will also join the’ K-animation craze ‘by introducing its first Korean original animation’ This Star Needs’ on the world stage on the 30th.It depicts a long-distance romance between astronaut Nan-young and musician Jay, and Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung take on the voice acting.


Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.