[Person人] Director Bong's Reliable Ally... Lee Mi-kyung, Vice Chairman of CJ Group

Generous Support for Production and Promotion... Contributing to the Development of Korean Cinema
The Unsung Hero Behind Parasite's Four Academy Awards Victory

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] CJ Group resembles the Medici family of Italy. Starting as a food manufacturer, it expanded its business into media and entertainment. It transformed theaters that reeked of stale odors and revitalized the monotonous fields of film, music, performance, and broadcasting. The key figure leading this proactive change is Lee Mi-kyung (62, English name Mickey Lee), Vice Chairman of CJ Group. She acquired the cable channel Mnet and built CGV, Korea's first multiplex cinema.

Her investments, sustained for over 20 years, have borne various fruits. The most outstanding area is film investment and distribution. The film "Parasite," credited to her as Executive Producer, reached its peak by winning four awards at the Academy Awards (Oscars) held on the 9th (local time) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was busy praising director Bong Joon-ho's (51) capabilities.

"I like everything about director Bong Joon-ho. His smile, hairstyle, the way he talks and walks, especially his directing style. What I like most is his sense of humor. He never gets serious."

Bong Joon-ho's Benefactor

Vice Chairman Lee is close enough to director Bong Joon-ho to speak openly. A CJ official said, "I understand they often discuss the development direction of Korean cinema." Thanks to her support, director Bong was able to make films such as "Memories of Murder" (2003), "Mother" (2009), and "Snowpiercer" (2013). Before meeting Vice Chairman Lee, he was one of the filmmakers with an uncertain future. His first feature film, "Barking Dogs Never Bite" (2000), was a box office failure.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Recalling that time, director Bong Joon-ho said, "'Barking Dogs Never Bite' reflects my feelings projected onto the character Yoon-ju (played by Lee Sung-jae), a university part-time lecturer. He repeatedly fails to get recommended by professors and stands at a crossroads whether to become a university professor or not, eventually taking money and becoming one. Even then, my heart was already leaning that way. The realistic adaptation issues shown by Yoon-ju, who stands between being a professor and a lecturer, reflect my own concerns about the future while struggling between commercial and independent feature films in Chungmuro at the time."

With the support of Vice Chairman Lee and former Sidus CEO Cha Seung-jae (60), director Bong produced "Memories of Murder" and succeeded in his comeback. When planning "Parasite," he first approached CJ ENM because of this trust. Vice Chairman Lee invested 12.5 billion KRW in the production company Barunson E&A.

The Price of an Expensive Lesson

No matter how excellent the quality of a work is, if marketing and promotion are poor, it cannot hold a trophy. This is especially true for politically charged film events like the Academy Awards. It is necessary to garner support from Academy members who have voting rights and increase the number of theaters screening the film.

Vice Chairman Lee poured over 10 billion KRW into promotional campaigns over five months. This is about one-third of the 25 million USD (approximately 29.6 billion KRW) Netflix spent promoting the film "Roma" last year. Netflix also invested nearly 100 million USD in this year's Academy campaign but only won Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern for "Marriage Story") and Best Feature Documentary ("American Factory").

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Vice Chairman Lee played a significant supporting role through her global network. Having made film a core business and exploring overseas market entry, she has close ties with key international figures. While serving as a director at Samsung America, the US branch of Samsung Electronics, she co-led the establishment of the multinational entertainment company DreamWorks alongside director Steven Spielberg (74) and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (70). CJ invested 300 million USD in DreamWorks. Considering CJ Group's assets were 1 trillion KRW at the time, it was truly a 'venture.'

Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks, recalled in an interview with the US daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about Vice Chairman Lee: "She came to Hollywood with money, ambition, and an infinite well of knowledge," and said, "The partnership with DreamWorks served as a lever to pursue different goals in Korea and the US."

Things did not always go smoothly from the start. Before CJ Entertainment was born, Vice Chairman Lee co-founded the film company Jaycom with the late producer Kim Jong-hak of the drama "Sandglass." Both films produced at the time, "Inshallah" (1996) and "Barricade" (1997), failed at the box office.

Looking back on those days, Vice Chairman Lee told director Bong Joon-ho, "I paid a high tuition fee," and said, "Compared to what I went through at Jaycom, things now are much better." Was this not an expression of pride in having endured hardships and storms to this day?

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.