All of Us Are Dead ends boost to related stocks

Netflix’s new original drama series All of Us Are Dead was another South Korean drama hit, but stocks related to the new zombie thriller have stopped rising on its success as investors booked profits from their recent strength.

Shares of Jcontentree Corp., the parent company of Film Monster that produced the horror series, on Thursday tanked 10.12% to 53,300 won ($44.3), their lowest point since Jan. 14 in the local stock market, far underperforming the 1.67% gain of the main Kospi.

WYSIWYG Studios Co. and Bucket Studio Co. declined 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively, compared with the 2.15% rise of the junior Kosdaq, although Com2uS Corp. jumped 2.66%. Com2uS and WYSIWYG Studios acquired the management rights of Artist Company, the agent of Cho Yi-Hyun, who played the role of Cho Nam-ra in the series.

Bucket Studio also has a stake in the agency founded by Lee Jung-jae, the lead actor on Netflix’s smash hit Squid Game.

That came as investors took profits from their recent gains. Jcontentree had rallied 36.3% to 64,600 won in a month to Jan. 21 on hopes of the zombie drama's box-office success.

THIRD NO. 1 K-DRAMA

All of Us Are Dead topped Netflix’s global chart within a day of its Jan. 28 debut and has maintained the throne for five straight days. It was the third Netflix South Korean original series that dominated the chart after Squid Game and Hellbound last year.

The latest horror drama is a story about a number of students trapped in a school amid a zombie virus outbreak who come together in their fight for survival.

It attracted a global audience by combining the zombie and teenage genres, critics said. The series starts with normal events at school and unfolds into a story of students’ fight against zombies for survival, revealing their fear and anxiety and highlighting their friendship and love.

“The series covers what choices students, who are not mature and socialized, make at life and death moments,” said the director Lee JQ.

Still, some criticized the drama as too sadistic as it contains school violence, while others said the series runs out of steam because it is too long.

Write to Ji-Yeon Sul and Hee-Kyung Kim at sjy@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.