Chinese Localization of Musicals Co-developed by Korea and China: A Case Study on the Musicals “Bachelor’s Vegetable Store”, “In the Mood for Sorrow”, and “Rimbaud”

Abstract

In previous years, China was behind the development among global musicals. Thus, more collaborative projects between China and Korea emerged. The musical market in China needed cross-border copyright collaboration because to diversify its repertoires and subjects, while the Korean musical companies demanded export copyrights of their musicals to overseas especially the Chinese market. Considering the supply and demand in the Chinese and Korean musical markets, this study selected three forms of collaborative projects in China. They include the Korean authorized musical “Bachelor’s Vegetable Store” (2019), the Chinese musical “In the Mood for Sorrow” (2018), and the musical “Rimbaud” (2018), which were all co-produced by the Chinese and Korean teams. Using the three forms of collaborative projects, this study analyzed four perspectives including the overview of the project overview of the project, preliminary preparation of the project, the production plan of localization, and the development strategy of cultural contents. Results showed that the advantages of the three forms of collaboration were as follows: for Korean authorized musicals co-produced by Chinese and Korean teams, the authorized company could evaluate the market value and future income of the musical in advance, and the production cycle was short; for original Chinese musicals co-created by Chinese and Korean teams and musicals co-produced by Chinese and Korean teams, the Korean companies had high project participation and diversified forms of revenue. The disadvantages of the three forms of cooperation, by contrast, were as follows: for Korean authorized musicals co-produced by Chinese and Korean teams, the copyright owners had low participation, single form of revenue and high uncontrollability of script adaptations; for Chinese original musicals co-created by Chinese and Korean teams, the cost of early development was high and the production cycle was long; for musicals co-produced by Chinese and Korean teams, the overall cost of the projects was high and the payback period was long. The analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the three different forms of cooperation could be taken as a useful reference for the development strategy of musical localization in China.