[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] Variety show producer Kim Tae-ho made an appearance at a movie theater. It wasn’t to introduce a program he directed, but to present the Hollywood film *The Drama*, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, to Korean audiences.

◇From Variety Shows to OTT and YouTube to the Big Screen… TEO’s “Expansion into New Territories”
TEO, the content production company founded by Producer Kim Tae-ho, is expanding its scope into film distribution. TEO has formed a strategic partnership with film distributor Waterhole Company and will begin theatrical distribution starting with “The Drama,” which opens on the 9th of next month. It also plans to release “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway, and “Stay by My Side,” directed by Baku Kinoshita, in succession.
At first glance, the fact that a variety show producer behind “Infinite Challenge” is distributing films may seem somewhat unusual. However, it’s difficult to view TEO’s decision as merely a case of business diversification. This move demonstrates how the barriers between the content industries—which were previously divided into broadcasting, film, over-the-top (OTT) services, and YouTube—are rapidly breaking down.
Founded by Producer Kim in 2021, Theo has been presenting content across various platforms, including *Earth Without Borders: World Travel*, *Devil’s Plan*, *Salon Drip*, and *Good Day*. Following a trend where variety show producers who left broadcast stations shifted their production focus to OTT and YouTube, Theo is now expanding its reach to movie theaters.
What’s interesting is the approach to entering the film market. Rather than producing films in-house from the start, Theo first focused on “selection and distribution”—choosing completed works from overseas and bringing them to domestic audiences. Its first title, “The Drama,” is not a film produced by Theo but a production by the American film studio A24.
Producer Kim took the stage at the theater himself on the 21st to present “The Drama.” During his on-stage remarks just before the premiere, he shared his thoughts on content, stating, “Content transforms viewers’ limited resource—time—into precious memories and experiences.” He also expressed his ambition to expand Theo’s scope beyond video content to include variety shows, dramas, and films.
This statement aligns with the reason Theo has ventured into film. While theatrical films, OTT series, and YouTube variety shows differ in platform and format, they ultimately compete for the consumer’s limited “time.” From a content company’s perspective, deciding what content to select and to whom to deliver it has become just as important as what it produces itself.
Ultimately, what Theo aims to test in the film industry is the “branding of taste” it has cultivated. While “variety shows created by Kim Tae-ho” have been Theo’s competitive edge thus far, the company now intends to expand its brand’s scope to include “content selected by Theo.” If Theo can build trust among audiences—convincing them that “since Theo chose it, it’s worth watching”—even works not produced in-house can be incorporated into Theo’s distinctive style.

◇So Ji-sub and Jung Il-woo Join the Ranks… The Line Between Production and Distribution Is Blurring
Cases where content creators are expanding into the realms of curation and distribution are already emerging everywhere.
A prime example is actor So Ji-sub. Together with his agency, 51K, So Ji-sub has been a long-term investor in Chanran, an import and distribution company that has been introducing overseas independent and art films since 2012. The names of So Ji-sub or 51K have appeared in the end credits of numerous films as “co-presenters,” including *The Miracle of Philomena*, *Madame Proust’s Secret Garden*, *Hereditary*, *Midsommar*, *Zone of Interest*, *Talk Show with the Devil*, and *Substance*.
So Ji-sub has previously stated that while he makes almost no profit from investing in films, he continues to do so because he wants to introduce good films to audiences. Recently, as films like *Substance* and *The Devil’s Talk Show* have garnered attention in Korea, the term “So Ji-sub’s picks” has even emerged among movie fans. However, since the film selection is handled by the distributor Chanran, strictly speaking, these are not films So Ji-sub personally selected, but rather works whose domestic release he has consistently supported.
Actor Jung Il-woo also participated in the domestic import and distribution of the American horror film “Together,” and subsequently listed his name as an investor in the domestic release of “Sentimental Value.” As YouTube content creators expand into theatrical films, the line between content creators and those who select and distribute content is becoming increasingly blurred.
Behind this trend lies a changing content consumption environment. In an era where people watch movies on OTT services and variety shows on YouTube, deciding which content to spend one’s “time” on has become more important than the platform itself. The phrase “limited time,” which Producer Kim emphasized at the theater, ties into this very point. From a production company’s perspective, rather than being confined to a specific platform, the “discernment” to discover and introduce quality content has become a competitive advantage in itself.
The key question is whether the trust Theo has built through variety shows will translate to the film market. Film distribution doesn’t end with selecting a film; factors such as the release date, securing theater screens, and marketing all determine a film’s success. Especially with theater attendance on the decline, it takes a special power to actually get audiences to come to the theater.
In that regard, “The Drama” is more than just the first film Theo is distributing—it’s a true test. It’s the first stage to gauge Theo’s potential for expansion as a content studio, determining whether the label “content curated by Theo”—moving beyond “Kim Tae-ho’s variety shows”—can attract audiences.