Chinese company acquires rights to Train to Busan but cannot release due to various reasons

Today, Korean media Herald Pop reported on the craze caused by the pirated distribution of the Korean zombie blockbuster "Train to Busan" in China. The report pointed out that "although the film has received a warm response in China, the losses suffered from it are also great." The copyright of "Train to Busan", which has been purchased by a Chinese distribution company at a high price, is likely to not be able to be released on the big screen in China.

NEW, the South Korean investment and distribution company of "Train to Busan", revealed to Herald pop that "a Chinese company has bought the copyright at a high price, but the release date has not yet been decided and we are currently negotiating with the Chinese distribution company."

However, considering that pirated copies have been circulating for a long time, NEW said that it has begun to control the circulation of pirated resources. "After discussing with local distribution companies in China, we have begun to control the illegal circulation of pirated copies and take legal measures. Although the circulation of large websites is relatively quick, the spread of personal SNS and P2P websites has been a long time, and the effect of our request for deletion is not ideal."

Herald pop also speculated that due to the impact of the THAAD issue, although it was purchased at a high price, "Train to Busan" will most likely not be able to be released in China.

In South Korea, all films released in theaters are generally available on TV on demand (VOD) 1-3 months after release. At the same time, video resources are streamed on the Korean Internet and then downloaded by Chinese subtitle groups for subtitle processing. Not only Korean films, but also many European and American film resources first come from South Korea.

The box office performance of Korean films such as "Uncle", "The Thieves" and "My Life" that were previously released in China was not ideal, which was related to the spread of pirated resources before they were released in China. Before the release of films such as "Late Autumn", "Myeongryang", "Snowpiercer" and "Assassination", they were strictly monitored and controlled for pirated copies.

After its release in South Korea on July 20, Train to Busan attracted 11.56 million viewers, becoming the first movie to exceed 10 million viewers in South Korea this year. The film has already topped the box office charts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and other places, and has also received good market response in France and other European and North American regions.