Netflix APAC Film Audience Grew 20% in 2024 — APAC Display
Netflix’s APAC head (excluding Korea) Minyoung Kim said that film viewing among APAC subscribers will grow by almost 20% in 2024.
Kim said that over 100 APAC films will be in Netflix’s top 10 non-English film list by 2024. They include titles such as Korea’s Uprising and Indonesia’s The Shadow Strays, or Japan’s City Hunter.
Netflix subscribers watch seven movies per month on average.
Kim highlighted the cultural impact of the streaming service’s film lineup across Asia. When Netflix’s live action adaptation of “City Hunter”, a popular manga series, premiered in April of last year, the sales of both the digital and hard copy versions of the manga increased by 900%.
Netflix Korea will be releasing its first animated film and two original zombie movies from Southeast Asia in the coming year.
Netflix has a track record of success in Indonesia and Thailand with its horror titles. The streamer is now set to launch two original zombie films from these countries, titled Elixir and Ziam. Netflix has a history of success with its horror titles in Indonesia and Thailand. The streamer is now launching two original zombie movies from these countries. They are titled Elixir, and Ziam.
Malobika Banerji is Netflix’s senior director of Southeast Asian content. She said that the Indonesian, Thai, and Korean teams who worked on the zombie series Kingdom offered advice on make-up, effects, and other areas.
The streamer will launch its flagship film Bullet Train Explosion in Japan on April 23. The film is a remake of the 1975 original The Bullet Train which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Speed.
Shin Takahashi from Netflix, the head of Japanese live action films and series said that this film represented an unprecedented level of collaboration with Japanese rail company JR East. The production was able to film on one of JR East’s actual bullet trains during several trips.
Takahashi said, “We were able rent a bullet train for seven trips from Tokyo to Aomori and film the motion of it.” This was impossible in the original The Bullet Train, and is still unmatched in Japanese film production today. This is an unusual level of collaboration in Japan, as even if the train was borrowed, it would only be used one or two time.
The biggest difference is that we spent more time communicating the story and creative vision to JR East. Takahashi added that we were able work with JR East through our repeated discussions and the time spent with them in pre-production.
Netflix Japan is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2019. The Japanese Netflix slate also includes the recently premiered Demon City and 10Dance, which is a film that will be released later in the year.
Ruchikaa Sheikh, the head of films at Netflix India, revealed that film is responsible for nearly half of India’s Netflix audience, making it one of the most popular globally. Every week in the last year, Netflix’s non-English global Top 10 list included at least one Indian movie.
This year, one of the Indian titles available on the streaming service is Toaster. It stars Rajkummar Rao who, along with his wife Patralekhaa, also acts as producer. Kampa Films is a production firm run by Rao, Patralekhaa and their first title.
Rao said, “When I read the one-pager for Toaster, it struck me as a very original story. We developed it into a screenplay.” The writing must be excellent for comedy films. “The situation must be funny so that you can be yourself and react authentically.”
Rao revealed that he realized he was a good comedian in 2017, when he starred as Newton, a film that won Best Feature Film in India’s National Film Awards. If you just react to specific situations, then it will be funny. This is what I do. It’s very hard to not be funny when doing comedy. Sometimes you think you can do better, and that can ruin the scene. Rao added that you have to be extremely controlled when doing comedy.
Vincent Taewon Kim is Netflix’s director of Korean content. He said that the company will be focusing on diversifying its offering in Korea this year, after experiencing record-breaking success there over the past few years. The slate for this year includes Netflix’s first animated film, Lost in Starlight. Wall to Wall will be released in Q3, while Good News and The Great Flood, as well as the Kill Boksoon Spin-off Mantis, are scheduled to debut in Q4.
