Blue Ocean Strategy Case Study

Stage Musicals: Altering the South Korean Entertainment Landscape

OR

Abstract:
"In the 2000s, the Korean entertainment industry watched a powerful resurgence of stage musicals as the country's film industry experienced an unprecedented downturn. The lacklustre performance of Korean movies was attributed to the low quality of films as well as strong competition from Hollywood movies. At the same time stage musicals were collecting revenues of more than $200 million a year and were geared up for better performance. Along with this, investors started to show increased interest in the musical industry than in films. The inflow of talent from the film industry to musical industry also started to increase on a large scale. Most importantly, there was the cross pollination of talents from musicals to movies too and many successful musicals were adapted to movies which became box office hits. In this scenario, the Korean film industry was faced with dual threats - one from Hollywood and the other from stage musicals - both pointing towards its doomsday. On the other hand the trend towards the convergence of movies and musicals as experienced by the Korean entertainment industry presented a strong blockade against the Hollywood penetration to the Korean heartland.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the entertainment industry in Korea.
• To analyse the growth, development and current scenario of the Korean film industry.
• To analyse the reasons for the increasing popularity of stage musicals in Korea.
• To understand the implications of the popularity of stage musicals to the Korean film industry.
• To explain the possible results of the convergence of movies and musicals to Hollywood cinema in Korea.

Keywords : Stage musicals; South Korea; Entertainment industry; Film industry; Hollywood movies; Box office; Convergence; Korean cinema; Motion picture law; Chaebol; Investors; Musical theatres; Movicals