[HanCinema's News] Studio Dragon Marks Second Big Hit of the Year With "Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born"

Earlier this year, Studio Dragon had a standout hit with "Queen of Tears" which was a huge success for the production company. Now with "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" they appear to be on the cusp of a second big hit in a single year. With domestic ratings over 10%, "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" is a surprise success after a fairly weak third quarter for Studio Dragon, and has renewed optimism for CJ ENM regarding next year's prospects.

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"Queen of Tears" may have been the highlight of the year for Studio Dragon, but its profitability has depreciated at three times the rate of every other drama Studio Dragon has put out since April. During the third quarter, Studio Dragon had no big hits. While "Love Next Door" was fairly popular. Consequently, despite having to pay big money for Jung Jae-in and Jung So-min, Studio Dragon realized relatively little money from that venture.

"Queen of Tears" also suffered from cost overruns. While the romance was only supposed to cost 30 million dollars to produce, in the end it costs 40 million dollars- 2.5 million dollars per episode. The gamble still paid off- revenue from Netflix and tvN alone hit 47 million dollars and Netflix recuperated 80% of the drama's cost. Kim So-hyun also agreed to only 200,000 dollars per episode in exchange for Chinese royalties.

"Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" only cost 24 million dollars by comparison, or 2 million dollars per episode. Additional costs for the historical drama are likely to incur, and "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" already had scheduling conflicts with MBC. However, the drama has had an excellent social media marketing strategy to compensate. Additionally, its Disney Plus streaming deal has amplified the global reach of the drama in addition to domestic revenues.

With only 20 dramas scheduled for this year after 34 in 2022 and 29 in 2023, Studio Dragon needs to do more with less- at least for now. Studio Dragon is hoping that various cost-cutting plans will allow for an improved reach next year as they increase production. With "When the Stars Gossip" already going over 35 million dollars for its budget, Studio Dragon needs reliability and a good sense of economy to assure its partners that they're not just catching lucky breaks.

Written by William Schwartz