Why K-dramas turn classic hit films into series
Posters for the 2011 film "Spellbound," left, alongside its tvN television adaptation "Spooky in Love" / Courtesy of CJ ENM, tvN
A romance with a woman who sees ghosts, a Joseon-era libertine’s dangerous romantic wager and a criminal who vanishes by turning into gas. Television and streaming platforms are increasingly reviving the premises of classic films and reworking them for contemporary audiences. Driven by a streaming boom, the Korean entertainment industry is expanding its focus beyond webtoons and web novels to revisit past cinematic hits for their built-in audiences.
The tvN weekend series "Spooky in Love," a television remake of the 2011 film "Spellbound," premiered July 18. The original film, starring Son Ye-jin as the ghost-seeing Yeo-ri and Lee Min-ki as horror magician Jo-goo, became a rare box-office hit for a romantic comedy.
The new series retains the central premise of the female protagonist being able to see ghosts but reimagines the story by changing the characters' occupations, focusing on a romance between Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin), an heiress to a family-run conglomerate, and a prosecutor who fears ghosts (Yang Se-jong). Speaking at a press event for the series, Park highlighted the expanded format and premises.
"The film runs for two hours, but the drama has 12 episodes, so we incorporated at least six times as much new material," she said.
Actress Park Eun-bin portrays protagonist Cheon Yeo-ri in the tvN drama "Spooky in Love." Courtesy of tvN
Netflix plans to release "The Scandal" in the third quarter, expanding director E J-yong’s 2003 film "Untold Scandal" into a multipart series. Son Ye-jin takes on the role of Lady Cho — a gifted woman constrained by the rigid gender roles of Joseon society — originally played by Lee Mi-sook. Ji Chang-wook steps in for Bae Yong-joon as the infamous playboy Cho Won, while Nana plays Hui-yeon, the widowed noblewoman originally portrayed by Jeon Do-yeon.
Attempts to adapt films into television series are not new. Past examples include "Friend, Our Legend" (2009), "7th Grade Civil Servant" (2013), "The Beauty Inside" (2018) and "The Crowned Clown" (2019). However, webtoon and web novel adaptations dominated the market beginning in the 2020s, making film remakes a rarity until a recent revival.
The trend gained momentum late last year when Disney+ released "The Manipulated," a series that built on the fictional universe of the 2017 film "Fabricated City." Netflix’s recently acclaimed Japanese series "Human Vapor" also followed suit, with Korean director Yeon Sang-ho reinterpreting director Ishiro Honda’s 1960 special effects classic "The Human Vapor."
A scene from the upcoming Netflix series "The Scandal," slated for release in the third quarter / Courtesy of Netflix
Risk-averse studios are revisiting these film properties because they offer a safer, cost-efficient strategy. The original titles have already built a following, which lowers commercial risk and allows networks to leverage brand recognition for promotion. For content conglomerates operating genre studios like CJ ENM or production companies holding film rights, adapting existing properties strengthens the value of their libraries while avoiding the costs of acquiring new sources.
Yoon Seok-jin, a professor of Korean literature at Chungnam National University, pointed to industry shifts as another catalyst.
"The contraction in film investment and the influence of global streaming platforms have prompted large numbers of film professionals to move into series production, making it easier to adapt films for television," Yoon said.
Transitioning to a longer format gives audiences more room to explore characters and storylines previously constrained by two-hour theatrical releases. Critics, however, warn that an overreliance on past hits poses a significant threat to the industry. They argue that funneling top creative talent exclusively into remakes could weaken the pipeline for original stories.
Jung Duk-hyun, a pop culture critic, noted the downstream effects on emerging talent.
"More emerging drama writers are working as adapters on projects with existing source material instead of presenting original scripts of their own," Jung said. "The greatest loss is that they have fewer opportunities to present original work, lose confidence, and miss the fresh creative energy they can show only at the early stages of their careers."
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.