In 2006, after years of pressure from America's Motion Picture Association, the Korean government agreed to cut their screen quota system in half, reducing the number of days local cinemas must devote to Korean films from 146 days to 73 days. Filmmakers protested, but the law was passed and people who supported the cut pointed to Korea's incredibly strong local box office performance as proof that Korean movies were doing well and didn't need these protections.

But protections are necessary because no industry does well all the time, and you protect your local industries so that when they're doing badly they don't get stomped into the dirt by foreign competition. That's why the US subsidizes its farmers to the tune of about $16 billion per year.

Well, now the Korean film industry is hitting those bad times and it's hard not to say "I told you so." A new report issued by KOFIC (Korean Film Council) says that from January to October of 2007, Korean films have watched their market share tumble by 29%, from 62% in 2006 to 46% in 2007. Foreign films, in the meantime, have grown by 35%, from 37% in 2006 to 53% in 2007. And the worst news of all is that Korea has released 89 films so far this year, as opposed to 86 during the same period last year. So more films are making less money. Only 1 in 10 Korean movies are showing a profit and given the rising costs of production the average film loses 4 billion won (about US$4 million), as opposed to 1.1 billion won last year.

It's not solely because of the quota cuts that these numbers are so dismal. Korea has been starved for big blockbusters this year and overall there just hasn't been the same excitement over Korean movies that there was in 2006. But now that screen quota is no longer there to cushion the fall, and I have a funny feeling Korean movies are going to land hard.

And just on a side note: American coverage of this issue has been predictably sparse. So hooray for sites like Beyond Hollywood, GreenCine, Twitch and the rest who cover real news like this and leave the puff pieces to TIME magazine, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal.