Showbox Breaks into Micro Dramas, ‘Dear You’ Sets US Theatrical Release
Korea's most successful film studio Showbox diversifies into vertical video.
Showbox Teams With ReelShort for Micro Drama Expansion
Showbox, the Korean film studio that is this year the country’s top distributor, has teamed up with the ReelShort micro drama company to develop and produce original short-form dramas for global audiences.
Initially, Showbox will co-produce short-form dramas based on ReelShort’s popular intellectual properties. Content produced through the partnership will be distributed exclusively on ReelShort, which claims 70 million monthly active users.
The initial lineup of Korean micro-dramas includes “Tell Me Not to Love You”, “My Secret Lover Is His Brother” and “Queen Never Cry”.
Later the partners aim to expand to include original short-form content developed by Showbox itself.
Showbox took its first steps into the micro drama space in December last year, when it began production on the short-form dramas “Bridal Shower: The Missing Bride” and “The Fallen Idol Is Possessed!” Drawing on the planning and production know-how accumulated across film and drama
The company says it is drawing on the planning and production know-how accumulated across film and TV drama. In the past year, Showbox has enjoyed theatrical success with Jang Hang-jun’s box office record breaker “The King’s Warden” followed by “Once We Were Us” and “Salmokji: Whispering Water.”
“By combining ReelShort’s global platform competitiveness with SHOWBOX’s content development and production capabilities, which have been at the forefront of K-content, we will deliver high-quality short-form dramas and use them as a foundation to expand into a wider range of genres and formats,” said a corporate spokesman for Showbox.
Silicon Valley-based, Chinese-backed Crazy Maple Studio established ReelShort in 2022. In a fragmented market, it claims to be “the world’s leading short-form drama platform and a pioneer in mobile-first storytelling”. It has a suite of hundreds of original series and a rapidly expanding content library.
‘Dear You’ heads to English-Language Territories
CMC Pictures has picked up the North America, Australian and New Zealand rights to “Dear You” (给阿嫲的情书), the Teochow-dialect family drama film that has become a runaway hit in its native China.
CMC has set releases in Australia and New Zealand from 25 June and 26 June in the US.
Made with a production budget of less than $2 million, the film tells a melodramatic tale of overseas Chinese families who communicate with those who remained behind through handwritten letters and small financial remittances.
China’s Parallax Says Okay to ‘It’s OK’
Mainland Chinese producer and sales agency Parallax Films has added two features to its international sales slate. These are recently-released drama “It’s OK” and “Zi”, which premiered in the NEXT section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“It’s OK” from renowned director Yang Lina, stars Wen Qi and Qin Hailu, in a tale of a woman and her adult daughter who plan to take radical measures to solve their problems but instead learn to resolve their differences. The film is currently on release and has accumulated $28 million at the mainland box office.
Set in Hong Kong, “Zi” is a sci-fi drama in which a young woman who is haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her life.” Starring Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson and Jin Ha, the film is the fourth feature by experimental director Kogonada. “Shot guerrilla-style in Hong Kong with a seven-person crew, the film exemplifies a bold and intimate independent filmmaking spirit,” Parallax said.