The male lead of Queen of Tears received 3.7 million USD, Korean stars' salaries are 1,000 times higher than Vietnamese stars'

Actor Kim Soo Hyun in the movie Queen of Tears - Photo: TvN

This number is much lower than previous information that he received 14.7 billion VND per episode and is also lower than the previous drama One Ordinary Day that Kim Soo Hyun received.

Reduce salary to support Queen of Tears

The Korean entertainment industry places great emphasis on the star power involved in a film project because they believe that the influence the stars bring to the project is huge.

This is evidenced by the ratings and audience response to the film.

Queen of Tears Movie Trailer

Not far away, star Kim Soo Hyun contributed greatly to helping viewers come to the film. Episode 6 of Queen of Tears achieved a rating of 14.1%, according to Nielsen Korea.

Kim Soo Hyun's agreement to accept a lower salary than previous films is considered a positive move to help reduce the pressure of TV production costs that are increasing significantly in Korea.

The decision also heralds a change in star pay, as companies grapple with rising production costs.

Consequences of high show fees

According to Hankook Ilbo , the biggest factor causing production costs to increase rapidly is the increase in actors' salaries.

With the development of global OTT online movie viewing services in Korea, the salaries of top stars participating in movies have increased significantly.

The movie Squid Game 2 stars Lee Jung Jae - Photo: Netflix

Like Lee Jung Jae, the main actor in Squid Game 2 , is paid about 18.4 billion VND (1 billion won)/episode, and the salaries of A-list actors are also increasing gradually.

As costs soar, so does the production burden on manufacturing companies.

Meanwhile, during this period, Korean television and cinema were considered frozen after the boom from Parasite and the world famous TV series Squid Game .

This freeze is due to financial austerity of broadcasters and OTT.

Before OTTs like Netflix became popular, there were more than 30 weekly shows across terrestrial, cable and general TV channels, but now that number has dropped to 13.

Local OTT companies have stopped or significantly reduced investment and production of TV series.

According to the Korea Drama Producers Association, the number of domestic dramas scheduled annually has decreased from 141 in 2022 to 123 in 2023 and is expected to remain at around 100 this year.

This is due to the decline in advertising revenue of television companies and the increase in production costs of television dramas.

Korean stars' salaries are 1,000 times higher than Vietnamese stars'.

Compared to Korean stars, the salary of the main male and female actors in Vietnamese TV dramas sounds very "out of place": from 5 to 8 million VND/episode. Secondary roles in the drama will be signed according to the segment.

Thus, the salary of Vietnamese actors is nearly 1,000 times lower than the salary of Korean actors.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nam-chinh-nu-hoang-nuoc-mat-nhan-3-7-trieu-usd-cat-se-sao-han-cao-gap-1-000-lan-sao-viet-20240328084921089.htm