page_title: Sageuk
section_title: Since 2000
hierarchical_section_title: Sageuk / History / Since 2000
caption_attribution_description: 한국어: 161019 구르미 그린 달빛 팬사인회
context_page_description: Sageuk in Korean denotes historical dramas, including traditional drama plays, films or television series. In English language literature sageuk usually refers to historical films and television series. In North Korea, South Korean historical dramas are generally called 고전 영화 or classic film.
  The first known historical film, The Story of Chun-hyang filmed in 1923, was directed by a Japanese filmmaker. The first Korean sound film was also sageuk. The heyday of Korean cinema began in the 1950s and lasted until the 1980s, with many sageuk films released, like Lee Gyu-hwan's Chunhyang adaptation in 1955. In the 1960s, historical melodramas were significant, as well as martial arts films. In the 1970s, due to the popularity of television, cinema started to decline, and in the 1980s it encountered a crisis, which prompted filmmakers to try to win viewers back with erotic pieces. From the 1990s, Im Gwon-taek's movies, as well as The Legend of Gingko and The Eternal Empire are significant works. From the 2000s, sageuk films started flourishing, between 2012 and 2015 Korean cinema produced five sageuk that broke the 10 million viewership record.
context_section_description: At the beginning of the 2000s, sageuk were preferred by older generations. Young people chose to watch contemporary series, which they could better relate to. Sageuk were often complicated, archaic in language use, and mainly employed older actors — thus were less appealing to younger generations. A change in attitude is attributed to producer and director Lee Byung-hoon, who entrusted the script of Hur Jun to a young, up-and-coming scriptwriter, Choi Wan-gyu. Instead of dry historical facts and distant wars, the series focused on emotions and relationships, revolving around the legendary Joseon royal physician. A new genre, "fusion sageuk" was born, changing the structure and format of Korean historical television series. In 2003, actress Ha Ji-won starred in Damo, the first HDTV format Korean TV series. The drama merged characteristics of trendy modern dramas with Hong Kong style wire-fu action scenes, narrating a fictional story set in a real historical time.
  As fusion sageuk conquered televisions, they started to infiltrate cinema, as well. This can be attributed partially to the success of television dramas and partially to the international success of such Chinese historical epics like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero or the American Gladiator, prompting the need to produce such works at home, as well. In 2003, Untold Scandal with drama icon Bae Yong-joon was released but the real turning point in historical films came in 2005 with The King and the Clown, breaking box office records selling more than 12 million tickets. Period films are also successful in the 2010s in South Korea, between 2012 and 2015, five out of all the films surpassing 10 million viewers were sageuk, and the record keeper (as of 2016 June) is also a historical piece: The Admiral: Roaring Currents sold 17.61 million tickets. The most popular ones are also of the fusion type, mixing historical facts with fictional people or events. Such works include for example, The Face Reader or Masquerade. Apart from so-called palace dramas, spectacular action-filled sageuk like War of the Arrows, The Grand Heist or Pirates are also successful in the 21st century. Film series have also appeared, like the Detective K-series, placing a crime investigation story into Joseon settings. Erotic period films experience a renaissance in South Korean cinema, with pieces like Forbidden Quest, The Servant or Empire of Lust.
  Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010), Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) and Love in the Moonlight (2016) were all sageuk adapted from popular novels. They were initially targeted to a younger demographic but has since received mainstream and international success. The productions have also put the spotlight to then emerging actors Song Joong-ki, Yoo Ah-in, Kim Soo-hyun, Park Bo-gum and Kim Yoo-jung.
  Large-scale sageuks have been rarely produced, but when they were launched, they often caught attention of the public. Most of them have been a fantasy-based, telling the audience a unique story of kings and queens lived in the ancient era. The most well-known one so far has been Taewang Sasingi (2007), which featured the Hallyu star Bae Yong Joon. In 2018, Studio Dragon announced it is working on Arthdal Chronicles, a new fantasy sageuk casting Song joong-ki and Kim ji-won. The drama started its first shooting on 1 June and recorded 8% personal best rating.
  On March 5, 2017, Netflix announced that it had given the production a series order for a first season of Kingdom. Alongside the series announcement, it was confirmed that Kim Seong-hun would direct the series and that Kim Eun-hee would be credited as the writer. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of AStory.
  Moreover, some famous actors and actress confirmed that they would join the web television series with plenty of political, supernatural and thrilling scenes. As a result, it was confirmed that the series would start streaming or transmitting on Netflix, starring Ju Ji-hoon, Ryu Seung-ryong. Bae Doona, Jeon Seok-ho, Kim Hye-jun, Heo Joon-ho Director Park In-je joined the pr
caption: Park Bo-gum in costume for youth, fusion sageuk Love in the Moonlight (2016)
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