Netflix film Okja shows high viability despite boycott by multiplexes

By Park Sae-jin Posted : June 30, 2017, 14:01 Updated : June 30, 2017, 14:01

[Aju News DB]


"Okja", an action-adventure Netflix film directed by Bong Joon-ho, showed its high viability, overcoming a joint boycott by South Korea's three major multiplexes which control 90 percent of screens at home.

The film attracted 23,106 on the first day of its simultaneous release online and offline on Thursday, according to daily data from the Korean Film Council, ranking fourth after "Anarchist from Colony", "Real" and "Transformers: The Last Knight".

The score was remarkable as Okja was screened only at 94 theaters which were not affiliated with the country's three major multiplexes -- CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox.

The multiplexes have established a virtual cartel with rules that movies should be streamed three weeks after their screen debut. Their boycott was aimed at blocking Netflix, an American entertainment company which provides streaming media and video-on-demand online and DVD by mail, from expanding its influence in the domestic market.

Okja was co-produced by three Hollywood studio and financed by Netflix. Bong, well known for hit films such as Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), and his first English-language film Snowpiercer (2013), urged South Korea's cinema industry to set new rules governing Netflix films.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com

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