Beeltejuice Beetlejuice and Transformers One Struggle To Find Footing In South Korean Market

While Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Transformers One are well-received internationally, including in North America, the two movies struggle to find traction in South Korea.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel to the 1988 hit film Beetlejuice, which grossed over five times its production budget of $15 million at the box office.

Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice returned after 36 years, topping the North American box office for three consecutive weeks, earning $250.13 million in North America and $373.33 million globally. In South Korea, it only attracted 115,371 viewers.

While Tim Burton’s distinctive visual style and characters that evoke nostalgia for the 1980s strongly resonated with audiences in the U.S., these elements felt unfamiliar to South Korean viewers, preventing the film from generating word-of-mouth buzz that typically drives box office success.

Transformers One also performed well in North America, earning $39.16 million and $71.96 million globally. However, it faced challenges in South Korea, only attracting 197,861 viewers during its opening weekend, raising concerns about its box office performance.

Transformers One is a prequel series celebrating the 40th anniversary of the successful Transformers franchise. It struggled to compete against the strong contender I, The Executioner, which maintained its top position at the box office. Transformers One opened two weeks later than I, The Executioner, but only drew 24,008 viewers, significantly different from I, The Executioner‘s 132,458 viewers on the same day.

Transformers One is the seventh installment in the Transformers series, with its first movie released in 2007.

The first film attracted 7.44 million viewers, the second film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, drew 7.39 million viewers, the third installment garnered 7.88 million viewers, and the fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, drew 5.29 million viewers. Even the perceived failure of Transformers: The Last Knight still managed to attract 2.61 million viewers.

However, the sixth installment, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, concluded with a score of only 760,000 viewers.

Despite the Transformers series’ overall box office success, critics note that each sequel’s formulaic plot and character structure have failed to offer any new developments.

Furthermore, the emphasis on spectacle and CGI diminished the emotional impact, producing visually spectacular movies that lack depth. As a result, audiences in South Korea have become less trusting of the Transformers.

Due to South Korea’s cultural preferences and the fierce competition in the local market, the two films had different outcomes. Also, one of the reasons for their struggles has been their inability to win over conservative moviegoers. Relying solely on the series’ popularity has proven to be a drawback, as seen by the glaringly disparate performances of Transformers One and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.