Conflict in Time to Hunt Resolved

Little Big Pictures and Contents Panda Reach Agreement... Securing Foundation for Netflix Distribution

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] The film Time to Hunt has secured the foundation for distribution through Netflix. The conflict between the distributor Little Big Pictures and the overseas rights distributor Contents Panda was amicably resolved on the afternoon of the 16th.

Little Big Pictures announced the agreement with Contents Panda on the same day, expressing “apologies and a sense of responsibility for the confusion and disorder during the distribution process.” They also sincerely thanked Contents Panda “for considering the Korean film industry by swiftly and reasonably negotiating with individual buyers and reaching an amicable agreement at minimal cost.”

The film was originally scheduled to be screened domestically on February 26. However, its release was indefinitely postponed due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Concerned about additional burdens such as promotion and marketing costs, Little Big Pictures became the first Korean film to transfer all rights to Netflix. However, Time to Hunt had already sold rights in about 30 countries. Contents Panda, which signed an overseas sales contract with Little Big Pictures on January 24 of last year and had been performing the work for over a year, achieved this result. Although Little Big Pictures was aware of the contract, it transferred all rights to Netflix and requested contract termination from Contents Panda in early March.

Contents Panda pointed out the “double contract” and took legal action. On the 8th, the Seoul Central District Court accepted a provisional injunction to ban overseas screenings and a request to invalidate the contract termination, nullifying the termination between Little Big Pictures and Contents Panda. Contents Panda thus regained the rights to sell overseas distribution rights for Time to Hunt. Accordingly, Little Big Pictures was unable to release Time to Hunt worldwide except in Korea. If violated, they had to pay Contents Panda 20 million KRW daily. Consequently, Netflix postponed the release of Time to Hunt and all related events.

Little Big Pictures acknowledged that it unilaterally notified contract termination, disregarding Contents Panda’s significant contribution to overseas sales through unreasonable progress. They stated, “We respect the court’s ruling” and apologized to Contents Panda employees for “damaging the corporate value of Contents Panda and its parent company NEW by mentioning unverified facts through press releases and interviews.”

In response, Contents Panda announced, “We have completed renegotiations with overseas buyers to the best of our ability and lifted the provisional injunction against screenings.” They expressed gratitude to “all the film companies in about 30 countries that cooperated for a smooth agreement during the resolution process” and said, “We will continue to do our best to uphold common sense in contractual relationships and maintain the trust of Korean films in the international film industry.”

Contents Panda’s legal response to this conflict was due to the frequent occurrence of similar issues in the film industry. The company emphasized, “We did our best to prevent unfair cases that may arise in the film industry and to maintain trust in Korean films in the international film industry.” They further explained, “During the agreement process, we prioritized preventing international disputes and informing the overseas market that the Korean film industry respects legal and reasonable procedures over seeking appropriate compensation.”

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