The Korea Herald reported on SK’s film industry is at a major crossroad. The industry is still reeling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Major studios have have a series of big budget box office losers. Only a handful of Korean movies made any profit in the last two years. Streaming platforms are making theaters increasingly obsolescent, and risk-averse investors are gravitating toward safe bets, with remakes, sequels, and adaptations stacking up one after another. In a telling sign for major contraction, Korea's five major production houses have only green-lit ten projects exceeding 3-billion-won ($2 million) budget for 2025.

For major production financier CJ ENM, the project "No Other Choice" is a high-stakes bet as insiders believe the studio's entire film division reportedly hangs by a thread after a string of expensive post-COVID flops. This adaption from the novel and movie “The Axe” stars big names, Lee Byung-hun with Son Ye-jin, is one of their only two CJ films to be released in 2025. CJ did not release actual production costs for this movie, but it is believed that this film will need at least 3.5 million admissions or more to break even.

CJ invested and is distributing “Harbin,” which needs 7 million admissions to break even. It was released (unopposed) on December 24 and it hit the 3 million mark after 9 days. However, January will have several new film releases, Insiders believe this competition will make it difficult for “Harbin” to reach the break even mark.

Of course, there are exceptions. Bong Joon-ho's long anticipated follow-up to his Oscar-winning "Parasite" is the $150 million Warner Bros sci-fi blockbuster “Mickey 17” starring Robert Pattinson Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffaloe. It opens on March 7, 2025. This film will have a global Hollywood release so its budget and box office will eclipse any 2025 Korean film.

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!

🎆🥂Happy New Year! 🥂🎆

So last OT I said I would be carpooling on New Year’s Eve, right? Well, that did not happen. My driver happened to be warrior friend. For those who do not know her, she is a kidney patient that also battled and survived cancer and a few comatose periods.

Her mom called me last Sunday in a frenzied state to alert me that I would not be able to carpool with her daughter ‘because she is in surgery right now’.😮 Of course, I quickly dismissed the carpool concern. First of all, I usually go there by train, so I would manage. Secondly, and most importantly, what do you mean by surgery⁉️😱

Forgive me for jumping to the worst conclusion warrior mom, but your phone calls about your daughter are rarely good news.😕

Until now! Warrior mom quickly cleared up the misunderstanding and announced that she was finally undergoing kidney transplant surgery!🥳 They got the call last Saturday evening and the hospital ran some tests before proceeding to make one person healthier and a lot of other people, me included, happier.🥹

Viki, you know I love you, but can we talk for a sec? Just because a drama stars a current or former idol, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is an “idol drama”. It has to be legitimately about idols for that to be a helpful label. Jebal. Let Me Be Your Knight is an idol drama. Namib is an idol drama. Heck, I would even accept <My Lovely Liar as an idol drama. But Hotel del Luna? Nope. The Red Sleeve? Not even close. Happiness? Check again. Maybe we could think about relabeling some of these? For me? Pleaseandthankyou.

I thought a moment of "not answering, just blinking" was quite fun and substituted the drama soundtrack with (discreet ) explanatory comic strip graphics in a gif. Now I am not sure which one is better - if you have an opinion, please give it here:
https://dramabeans.com/activity/p/1666465/

Also, Question:
If you hold
one hand in front of you, loosely as if you carried a tray, and
the other hand on it, folded as maybe a fist or miming that it holds something ,
and then moves the loosely folded hand to your chin, (not mouth. Chin.
what does that mean?
I have searched online to find an explanation, but I only find the same most common hand gestures again and again, like "come", "go", "drink", and "call me".

Happy New Year and First Friday of 2025, Beanies! Pls sit down comfortably because we're having a massive concert tonight)))

Starting with the last OST of 2024 for iQiyi's THE WIND GOES BY “I once walked through the night” - a very nice track, sentimental and pleasant, making a great closure, imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKtQuSgaNXc

Then Yuning's appearance on last episode of music variety HIT SONG 2024 – a collab stage with Galaxy Express band for their song “Blank space”. Actually he's huuuge fan of theirs and this particular track, even playing it during his livestreams and bugging the composer to make something like this for himself – to no success so far lol. Gotta say, they sound nice together, tho his part is relatively tiny and overall the song is way too high, even when he used his “feminine register”. I love that pastel blue blazer as well, such a good and soft color for him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVbiH8fc7-M

Next segment comes with nosebleed warning because we've had rockstar!Ning-ge back for a while, and more rude than ever, at Douyin Wonderful Surprise Night. For real tho – this may very well be his hottest event look in entire year, even above all-white silver wig one, and you probably remember how much I salivated over loved that... Look at all back leather! And his hair! Not to mention glitter everywhere – from eyes all the way down cleavage... Give his stylist a bonus asap! He performed 2 (and a half) tracks in that deadly styling – first another rendition of “Galloping away” (there's still no official upload of these on YT so forgive me for DY links):
https://www.douyin.com/video/7453458900369542460

And then the song (mid-event lineup-wise!) after which I was like “now everyone can 100% go home, the night has peaked already” - Chinese-Japanese cover of Ikimono-gakari's megahit “Blue bird” (NARUTO SHIPPUDEN OST – omg, the flashbacks! I still remember most of it, ha!) in duo with Yuning's new friend Miyavi. Who surprised me with not only his impressive guitar skills and conversation level Mandarin, but also being a total riot: in his interview backstage dude praised Ning-ge to the moon and back for being “handsome, gentle, nice and reminding former of his ex-girlfriend” (personality-wise? lmao, bro, keep it going!). Shameless troll flirting and occasional head-mic problems aside, these two burned the stage, wow! Gotta say, Ning-ge totally needs to hang out with his brethren in metal more, all those super civil and self-conscious mainland popstars are too proper company for this feral child... Look how he shines, it's not just glitter!
https://www.douyin.com/video/7453462457680530740

Combined YT link (if you DY doesn't work, but idk how long it'll last):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaL7QvLXEBg

ah.

A notification I received of a reply to a comment by @ceciliedk on Marry My Husband led me back to last year thread on the white truck of doom trope, with very funny contributions from @elinor and @leetennant and got me thinking about how last year was a very bad year for white trucks in terms of making a productive narrative impact (although of course a white truck accident is one of several car accidents central to the misadventure romance, When the Phone Rings, I'm not sure it will be coherently explained by tomorrow.)

Then, I started thinking about other tropes, and the weird choice of “loser in love” as trope of the year in the DB editors/commentators year in review. (I know Lovely Runner had a charismatic 2ML who was a loser in love, but I saw a lot of the years romances, and I can’t think of anyone else as a stand out. Maybe the guy in Frankly Speaking? Or Love Next Door? But they were definitely not worthy of trope of the year!)

Anyway, I am not hear to rehash last year’s review, but rather look forward to the new. What will be the trope we will see most repeated? So far, with shows that started last year and are completing this year, some version of “heroine in disguise” is by far the leader, with When the Phone Rings, Who is She, Tale of Lady OK and Check In Hanyang.

But looking at the summary of other shows coming up, that doesn’t seem to be the prevailing theme there, and maybe that should be considered more of a 24-25 “transition trope” then one we can look forward to in the upcoming year.

So following a New Years trope, any trope predictions for the upcoming year?

Got the usual serenade on New Years Eve. Loud fireworks set off car alarms and then the coyotes started howling in response.

I thought that there would be a recap for Squid Game 2 and I've been waiting to comment there but I'm impatient haha

When I watched Squid Game 2, I didn't notice any of the intricate storytelling or hints shown. I just knew I didn't feel anything in particular about the show or the characters. I never notice those things but that's why I'm grateful to the folks who *do* like the show and watched & rewatched it to pick up on those things.

Like I knew the front man was manipulating Gi Hun but I didn't realize *how* he was doing it such as delaying the 6 legs race to psych the group out & scare them or making sure his team was last in case he needed to have witnesses killed. He may not have even participated in Mingle.

I knew they had a conversation referring to the matrix but I didn't put together that the conversation laid the groundwork for the front man's whole mission in the game: to show the futility and failure of Gi Hun's grand plans of "needlessly" playing hero.

Like I've said before, I never notice the social commentary part until it's spelled out for me haha.I just watched a recap of S1 of Squid Game and was reminded that choosing whether to leave or stay in both seasons (after the first game) came down to a single vote.

A single vote after witnessing carnage around you. I thought the players in S2 were worse but I guess that's not necessarily the case. (I don't remember who made that deciding vote; it was either the old man or Gi Hun)

I haven't seen why people dislike the new season or why it has mixed reviews. After watching videos about the themes and clues within the show, it seems on brand with the social commentary.

For me personally, I just don't feel emotionally attached to anyone but that doesn't mean I don't think some characters are sympathetic or that wouldn't suck if they die.

I'm just too cynical for self righteous Gihun haha. Even though the recruiter and the front man view the players as trash and horses, their perspective is constantly confirmed when people choose selfish, stupid options such as a lottery ticket over food or leaving a death game.

Oh, as I'm writing this I'm reminded of that scene in The Dark Knight when The Joker was trying to make other people complicit in something just to prove people suck or something and Batman was like "no, they're better than that; they'll do the right thing" and the people did do the right thing.
I think that's what Gihun was going for; that common sense, empathy, and compassion would win out.

I don't even know where S3 can go from here because it feels like no matter what, it will be unsatisfying. If Gi Hun somehow wins the moral victory, it doesn't feel true; it just feels like the "good guys win/yay faith in humanity" and if the front man wins, "the bad guy wins/the status quo never changes".

The thing I'm curious about in S3 is again the games. I thought maybe the pictures on the walls were new games but...

NOTES FROM 9TAILEDVIXEN'S 2024/2025 CROSSOVER WEEK:

Happy new year, Beanies!

(A) LIFE NOTES

Aerial Yoga classes have started again and I am picking up from where I left off quite well. I was a bit worried that my flexibility would backslide but so far, so good. Onwards!

Work doesn't resume til 5 January for me so I've about 1 more day to relax before hurling myself back into the fray. And this coming year is going to be stressful and busy AF because the Orange Hitler and his Menagerie of Horrors will be coming back into power. Sigh...

(B) THIS WEEK IN KOREAN WOMEN'S NEWS:

1. South Korean Women’s Resistance at the Heart of Yoon Suk-yeol’s Impeachment

In the wake of Yoon Suk-yeol’s failed self-coup on December 3, South Korean citizens took to the streets to protect the country’s democracy, staging a massive protest led by women in their 20s and 30s. The participation of young female K-Pop fans in particular has drawn attention to women’s role in the peaceful protests, while images of Democratic Party spokeswoman Ahn Gwi-Ryeong defiantly grabbing a soldier’s rifle inspired worldwide admiration.

Yet women are also persistently sidelined in Korean politics, all while bearing the brunt of the country’s socio-economic woes.

https://thediplomat.com/2024/12/south-korean-womens-resistance-at-the-heart-of-yoon-suk-yeols-impeachment/

2. Billboard Korea's CEO Yuna Kim on Embracing Strong Female Leadership In Korea

Billboard Korea's CEO Yuna Kim spoke with Billboard Japan for its Women in Music interview series featuring trailblazing female players in the country's music industry. Billboard Japan launched its WIM initiative in 2022 in the same spirit as the established example of Billboard's event that began in 2007, honoring artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to the music industry and empowered women through their work, the highest accolade being Woman of the Year.

Kim said: "There is harassment in South Korea as well. Many men don't want to get involved in such issues, so it doesn't get covered in the news, especially in the older media. I feel it's a major problem when voices of female artists and creators are not heard. There are also issues surrounding the way women look. We are all under huge pressure to be slim and...

Whoops, I was planning to post the Bean Count analysis results at the beginning of this Open Thread, but I just realized I got my dates wrong. Whelp, for whoever is still lurking here, here's the results! If it seems like they aren't very visible here, I'll post it again next week. 😅

For anyone that missed it, @Claire09 and I kept a tally of the 2024 Bean Count, and the not-so-official polls closed on New Years Day. The analysis has all been completed now, and you can see that information on the spreadsheet. You can easily navigate and sort by different heading by clicking the hyperlinked headings in underlined white text and a dark green background. That said, I wanted to consolidate some of that information here and start some of the narrativizing process that makes this Bean Count so fun. I’m excited to hear your guys’ thoughts and observations as well!

First, though, here was the overall bean count:

Overall Most Beans (from all lists):
1. Lovely Runner (258)
2. Like Flowers in Sand (137)
3. The Atypical Family (117)
4. No Gain No Love (102) -- tie
4. Queen of Tears (102) -- tie
6. Flex x Cop (86.5)
7. Mr. Plankton (77)
8. Knight Flower (76.5)
9. My Sweet Mobster (64.5)
10. Family by Choice (63)

Interestingly, some of those dramas -- in particular Mr. Plankton, My Sweet Mobster, Flex X Cop, and No Gain No Love -- performed much lower on the DB Staff’s list. Mr. Plankton didn’t receive a single bean, and the other three earned 4 beans or less. Just goes to show the importance of sample size (and also an interesting look at the sometimes divergent preferences of the staff and Beanies on the site)!

See my comments below for more lists and observations (and/or make your own observations from looking at the spreadsheet). :)

So I have been away from db for what feels like an eternity (notice my dp is from Run On) because I've been doing drama reactions/reviews on Patreon and youtube. The downside to that though is I can only record on the weekends so I only watched a handful of dramas in the past years. I now realized that that lifestyle sucks and I want to watch more dramas. Here's to more beans for year end! 🙌