By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Every summer, big budget Hollywood movies flow in, and many worry about the potential threat to homegrown films. Recent trends, however, suggest that competition is healthy.
``The fact that such a comparison (between national and international franchises) is even possible is unique; there aren't so many countries around the world where domestic films can compete with American ones,'' Han Seung-hee, researcher at the Korean Film Council, told The Korea Times.
After the turn of the new millennium, the Korean film industry enjoyed rapid growth, with blockbusters rewriting box office history each year. But the market plummeted for the first time last year, and investment and production hit an all time low. Moviegoers even criticized films that fared well at the box office as being formulaic.
So far, 2009 looks better. The success of ``A Frozen Flower'' and ``Scandal Makers'' opened up a promising new year. Although February and March were rather lukewarm months _ viewership was split among three crime thrillers, ``The Scam,'' ``Marine Boy'' and ``Hand Phone'' _ ``Private Eye'' picked things up and was widely loved for its unique themes.
Sleeper hit movies such as ``Old Partner'' and ``Breathless'' also revamped the cinema scene, proving that small budget films can make it big. Despite what was anticipated to be a tough competition against star-studded imports like ``Star Trek: The Beginning'' and ``Terminator 4,'' ``My Girlfriend Is an Agent'' reaped large profits. Park Chan-wook's Cannes Jury Prize winning ``Thirst'' also faired well.