Most viewers probably assume that only films receive large budgets. However, some dramas are an exception. Let’s look at the following series with the highest production costs
*The production cost of each drama series listed below is an estimate and is for reference only. Rankings are based on the estimated average cost of each episode.
10. Legend of the Blue Sea: Lee Min Ho, Jun Ji Hyun
Although Legend of the Blue Sea is just a romantic drama, it was still heavily invested. The cost for drama is up to 22 billion won for 20 episodes, and a special episode, if divided equally on average, each episode costs 1.05 billion won. In addition to the money used to pay two leads who are top-notch actors, Jun Ji Hyun and Lee Min Ho, the drama also used many gorgeous and lavish backdrops. The drama’s crew even went to Spain to shoot. Taking into account the fact that the drama was released in 2017, this budget was considered very high.
9. Crash Landing on You: Hyun Bin, Son Ye Jin
Another drama hosted by two A-list celebrities Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin is certainly not a low-budget production, but many viewers didn’t expect it to be so high-budget. Crash Landing on You has a total production cost of 20 billion won. The total amount is less than the production cost of Legend of the Blue Sea, but Crash Landing on You only has 16 episodes, so the average amount of each episode is 1.25 billion won. The drama realistically portrays the life of the North Korean people, so the director invested a lot of effort in creating the backgrounds. Furthermore, the crew also flew to Switzerland and Mongolia to shoot many beautiful and poetic scenes.
8. Tramp: Lee Seung Gi, Suzy
This epic action television blockbuster cost up to 25 billion won to produce 16 episodes, with each episode estimated to cost 1.56 billion won. This is a series co-produced by Netflix and SBS. The crew specially traveled to Morocco and Spain to film. In addition to the costs incurred in filming abroad, the drama also includes many big action scenes with huge weapons, the high cost is understandable.
7. Mr. Sun: Lee Byung Hun, Kim Tae Ri
Up to 40 billion won was invested in the drama set during Korea’s transition from constitutional monarchy to democracy, with a military theme and epic scenes, in 24 episodes, about 1.67 billion won in each episode. In Mr. Sunshine, the chaotic war scenes are presented realistically, the village set and the actors’ costumes consumed a lot of money to get right. Furthermore, the cast is also made up of famous actors. Offering Lee Byung Hun a role in the drama is not easy. This drama was put together through the work of a dedicated team, so it’s not hard to see why the drama became a hit.
6. The Legend: Bae Yong Joon, Lee Ji Ah
While the above dramas are all recent productions, The Legend was produced in 2007. At that time, a huge sum was invested in the drama, up to 43 billion won for 24 episodes, which means that on average each episode cost around 1.8 billion won. This is a historical drama with a huge scale and a mythical theme. Besides the cost of the backdrops and costumes, the amount of money paid to the male lead Bae Yong Joon was also huge. At that time, the actor received 250 million won for each episode, setting a record among actors for many years, and was only broken recently.
5. The King: Eternal Monarch (Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun)
This work marked Lee Min Ho’s television return after military service and 30 billion won was invested for 16 episodes, each episode is worth approximately 1.875 billion won, a very high budget. This is understandable because the series builds two parallel worlds, two separate countries that coexist. As the king, Lee Min Ho wears very beautiful and expensive costumes, and his residence is also extremely luxurious and magnificent. His palace in the drama is very elaborately built, also there are many other scenes that are very well done, like a military parade, and the effects are also used a lot.
4. Squid Game: Lee Jung Jae, Jung Ho Yeon
With a runtime of 9 episodes, ‘Squid Game’ has a production cost of 20 billion won, if divided equally each episode would amount to approximately 2.22 billion won. It can be seen that Netflix does not hesitate to invest money to create an epic film. In the film, there are many elaborate scenes, which bring together a huge number of actors, many props are also used, for the production of which the troupe spent a lot of money. Worth the large investment, this work was launched with great success and brought Netflix huge profits. Every product of this “great man” makes a profit, no matter what it produces.
3. Penthouse 2, 3: Lee Ji Ah, Kim So Yeon, Eugene
Of the three series, the 2nd and 3rd seasons of Penthouse both cost 30 billion won, but based on the number of episodes, the second season is the most expensive because it has the shortest episodes, only 13 episodes, so each of them is more than 2.3 billion won was spent to produce. Since the story of Penthouse is about the upper class, from the house to the costumes, the equipment in the film is also invested heavily to give the appearance of a rich person. The construction of the interior inside the Hera Palace is also not cheap. Large investments also bring many benefits, thanks to the attractiveness of ‘Penthouse’, SBS has increased revenues by more than 13% compared to last year.
These are the two series that both ranked in the top 2 in the investment ranking, where ‘Sweet Home’ spent 30 billion won for 10 episodes and ‘Arthdal Chronicles’ spent 54 billion won for 18 episodes. The average spend per episode for both of these films is 3 billion.
‘Sweet Home’ is heavily invested mainly because of the new faces, so the pay for the actors is not a big issue. Its high cost is mainly used for effects because it is a horror film that destroys monsters. As for ‘Arthdal Chronicles’, this work is an epic historical fantasy series, so it costs a lot to set up and film it. The troupe also opened an exclusive studio in Gyeonggi Province and invested a large amount of money in its production. Furthermore, the cast of the film also consists of big stars, so the pay for the actors is also very high.
1. Kingdom 1: Joo Ji Hoon, Bae Doo Na
Above all, Netflix’s Kingdom has become the work with the highest investment as each episode consumes an average of 3.3 billion won; the first season of this work lasts only 6 episodes but up to 20 billion won were spent on the production. It can be seen that this is a huge amount, but looking at this work, everyone realizes that the amount is completely right because the film has to set up a historical setting, the actors’ costumes are very demanding. Furthermore, there are also many actors in this series. Making scary zombie movie scenes isn’t easy. The cost for actors and effects is very high, so the writer initially planned to make 8 episodes, in the end, due to lack of money, the drama was reduced to only 6 episodes.
We see that technology is developing more and more, it is understandable that filmmakers have to invest more in their idea because the public’s tastes are rising day by day. The above works have all been completed, but the competition for investments has not stopped. Joo Ji Hoon and Jun Ji Hyun’s upcoming debut “Jirisan” also received an investment of 32-35 billion won, also “Moving” with the collaboration of Jo In Sung and Han Hyo Joo was invested up to 50 billion won won. Many more epic masterpieces in the future, let’s wait and support the real directors.
