Kim Ji Won Doesn’t Renew Contract with Agency King Kong by Starship
Yet another star is making the agency move and coincidentally in the same week it’s the two costars from Arthdal Chronicles. Following the news of Song Joong Ki not renewing his contract with Blossom Entertainment, his Arthdal leading lady Kim Ji Won will also not renew her expiring contract with her own agency King Kong by Starship. A fresh start is never a bad thing and Kim Ji Won hasn’t had a big hit since Descendants of the Sun in 2016. Fight for My Way was a cult fave, her movie Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead was stupid beyond belief (can’t believe I watched it), and her latest Arthdal miscast her on top of just being a muddled slog. I hope her new agency gets her back on track.
What her next project? I think her agency not promoted her well, good she doesnt renew her contract
She’s not a top star (yet) but takes long hiatuses in between projects like one. Hopefully her new agency will be more proactive in getting her work. She had so much hype after DOTs.
‘Long hiatuses’? Her filmography shows 1-2 dramas a year, every year except 2018 (when she had a movie out).
DOTs was filmed in 2015. She only had two other dramas, FFMW and AC; and one movie Detective K afterwards. Compared to actresses like Seo Hyun-jin and Chae Soo-bin who gained recognition the same year, her hiatus is indeed longer. But maybe its her agency or her own decision to remain more exclusive.
Chae Soo Bin worked 3 full dramas+1 short drama in 2017 and people here were screaming about how she’s doing too many dramas and people don’t like her (but such comments were conspicuously absent for Yeo Jin Gu doing the same in 2019), and took a 1 year break from appearing on tv/films this year.
Actresses can’t win either way.
Not her fault. In 2018 She was supposed in another drama with LJS, but it has been canceled. Thats a waste of her time.
Both turned down the drama before it was cancelled though
Please, don’t dilute Fight For My Way’s success just to have cohesive legend, because acknowledging properly it’s success makes everything fall apart. Fight For My Way considered as a solid hit. It topped everything, made good profit, people (including idols, actors and general public) parodied it everywhere, ratings were again solid and that drama actually made people see her as a worthy leading lady. It was one of highest rated drama for KBS that year too. Dramas don’t even get 30% this days, max 20%, so don’t call a solid general public favorite as “cult fav”. Something like Extraordinary You or Tale of Nokdu “cult fav”, but not Fight For My Way, that was genuinely one of the best received youthful, realistic rom-coms and also had it’s own share of critical acclaim. If there is some kind of “downward trajectory” that you want so much to portray, it didn’t start with Fight For My Way. If anything, it solidified her success. Her only misstep remains AC.
Agreed. I don’t think Kim Ji-won could not have been cast in Arthdal if she hadn’t proved she could headline a well-watched drama like Fight For My Way and its 10% ratings.
Totally agree! Fight for my way was definitely not a cult favourite. It was really well received in Korea and solidified her status as a leading lady. IMO her company did not take advantage of the momentum after the drama which is a shame.
First of all Arthdal was in no way a flop…did not perform as well as expected but still not a flop…Secondly…Fight my way was a hit by all means…legit hit…so her film did not work….hardly means her career is going downhill.
I didn’t say it was “flop” that word is a big stretch on it’s own. I said “misstep”. You can understand it on your won way too. For me AC was a misstep because it had massive budget, strange and hard to pull off right concept and high risk, that didn’t met expectations.
Her film would have been a hit had it been written well, and if one of the male leads hadn’t been an ugly rapist.
TTON had a solid 7-8% rating the whole time and performed on popularity charts and had a strong following online. Don’t call it just a cult hit it was also a commercial hit and general public favorite. It was also no. 1 on its time slot for most of its run. It was even no. 15 on gallup korea list of most popular tv shows which included both dramas and variety programs.
Fight My Way topped the Contents Power Index for all tv programmes (not just for dramas) during its run and had ratings better than some much more hyped dramas of that year like Ny Sassy Girl, While You Were Sleeping etc.
It deserves better than to have koala put it down as some little-watched ‘cult fave’ just to keep the narrative that Kim Ji Won hasn’t had any major success. It was a sleeper hit, not some barely-watched but much-liked obscure drama.
Koala is pretty dismissive and lowkey bitchy towards those she doesn’t like. Watch her downplay a legitimate hit while acting like her faves’ 2% and 7% dramas were hits. It’s just funny at this point.
She has such leading lady status acting and the looks to go with it. I really hope she can find an agency that will promote her more and get her good projects.
I loved her in Heirs, more so than the famous Leads in that show. If she can turn a bitchy character into a lovable character, then her acting to me is solid.
Yes, loved her in Heirs despite the haughty and bitchy role. Wouldn’t dismiss AC as yet as story is incomplete and her Tania role had not been well developed in S1. Just hope that she will undertake more challenging roles to manifest her acting skills as she is one of the few 20+ actresses with looks and compatible acting capabilities.
Not sure AC S2 is happening-its PD quit too. But as a fan, I hope she doesn’t return to it as her character received minimal screen time. A better move would be a change in image. Would not advice her to extend her hiatus by too long, especially when the competition is so stiff. Once you lose your momentum, it isn’t easy getting back on track.
Maybe she can join Kim Soo Hyun’s or Song Joongki’s new agency. She has a lot of potential.
Woaahhh, because I have some pretty mind-blowing news for you! I’m a time-traveler from the year 2024, LOL and I can confirm that KJW has joined Highzium Studio – which is, by the way, SJK’s agency – and has just finished filming “Queen of Tears” with none other than KSH.
I support KJW leaving KK agency as she had not been heavily promoted by them. Unsure if her low profile was a deliberate attempt on her own or the agency was just not proactive as it is inadvisable and unwise for a young promising starlet.
PMY was also with that agency with lackluster results till she joined Namoo in Dec 2017 where she managed to experience career resurgence; though that media play on the WWWSK fake dating rumors were superfluous and preposterous.
PMY was with Studio Dragon the same agency as JJH before she joined Namoo. She was with KK during her peak City Hunter and SS days.
KJW post-Descendants was doing mostly modelling work in China, that sounds like an agency move. She won the part in Fight for My Way by auditioning, honestly her success is more the result of her previous connections and efforts than anything Kingkong did (they slept on her until Kim Eun Sook decided to give her career a boost by casting her in DOTS….can only assume she liked KJW work in Heirs)
Agree that KJW has been keeping a low profile after starring in the movie and only resurfaced for AC. There was hardly any appearance for magazine covers, interviews or events, apart from her own brand endorsements. She is also very inactive in IG. Though she had mentioned that she preferred to maintain a segregation between professional and personal lives, she should not lie too low due to the ruthless competitiveness of K-ent.
Something serious must have occurred because just a few months ago she was in promos for kkbyss and she even recruited her friend and co-star Song Ha Yoon. Maybe the recent voting scandal? I do agree they don’t promote her as much as they did, and neither have they got her good projects. I mean FFMW established her as a leading lady with both acting skills and beauty and the best they could get her after that was an eye candy role in silly movie?