Queen of Tears and Lovely Runner still leave losses for CJ ENM. (tvN Collage)
The popular dramas produced by CJ ENM, Queen of Tears and Lovely Runner, apparently still leave large losses despite selling well.
In fact, some time ago Queen of Tears and Lovely Runner were the two best CJ ENM dramas in the top position in the first half of 2024 according to NME.
Before Queen of Tears and Lovely Runner, there was Marry My Husband which became CJ ENM's flagship drama with extraordinary popularity.
However, it turns out that these three popular dramas still left a loss for CN ENM worth 100 billion Won or around 1 trillion Rupiah.
According to Daum, these large losses occurred because production costs were very high.
Queen of Tears, with the highest audience rating, is known to have had production costs of up to 56 billion Won (around Rp. 655 billion) for 16 episodes or around 3.5 billion Won (around Rp. 40 billion) per episode.
According to various sources involved, CJ ENM's drama and film division is in the red zone even though it generates the largest profits.
Although the losses have decreased over time, currently the amount is still around 10 billion Won (around Rp. 116 billion).
This problem was also triggered by CJ ENM's films which were still struggling in cinemas while the dramas produced were also having difficulty making a profit due to high production costs and the decline in the advertising market.
In fact, dramas produced by CJ ENM have become big hits three times in a row, starting with Marry My Husband, Queen of Tears, and the new Lovely Runner.
These three dramas are popular not only in Korea, but also abroad, including Indonesia.
Apparently, CJ ENM also experienced bigger losses than this year in 2023 but managed to find a turning point with an operating profit of 12.3 billion Won in the first quarter of 2024.
The acting industry market estimates that CJ ENM's operating profit in the second quarter will reach 30-40 billion Won, but in fact dramas with high production costs such as Queen of Tears still leave losses.
Top actors and actresses who have to be paid hundreds of millions of won per episode are also said to be one of the triggers.
"Previously, drama production costs averaged 300-400 million Won per episode, but currently 400 million Won for just one episode is normal," said a drama industry person, quoting from Daum (17/07).
The producer of Lovely Runner also said that the production costs for Kim Hye Yeon and Byeon Woo Seok's drama cost more than 200 billion Won per episode even though it was only a mini series.
"A 16 episode mini series like that costs a lot of money, doesn't it? If it fails it will be very difficult for many people," said the producer.
Actor and actress appearance fees are the biggest burden on production costs, this has been acknowledged by the production crew who object to having to work with popular actors with a budget of 1 billion Won for just one episode.
Industry insiders explain that the standard fee for a famous actor or actress is currently around 300-400 million Won per episode. /kpopchart.net
