As the film The King's Warden, which is on the verge of surpassing 12 million moviegoers, faces allegations of plagiarism, the production company pushed back, saying the claims are "groundless."
OndaWorks, the producer of The King's Warden, said on the 10th that "the entire process of creating 'The King's Warden' has been recorded in detail, and we can prove it," conveying this position.
OndaWorks added, "Because it draws on historical figures and events, there may be creative works that claim similarities, but there was no route or causality by which we encountered that work during creation, and there was absolutely no plagiarism of any other copyrighted work during planning, development, or production."
It went on to say, "The plagiarism claims are groundless," adding, "We will respond firmly to such claims through all avenues, including legal procedures."
The King's Warden is a film that depicts one year of exile in the life of Danjong, the sixth king of Joseon. It tells the story of the deposed Danjong, Yi Hong-wi (played by Park Ji-hoon), spending the final period of his life in communion with villagers, including village head Eom Heung-do (played by Yoo Hae-jin), at his place of exile in Yeongwol County, Gangwon. While the deposition and exile of Danjong are reflected as historical fact, elements such as the relationship between Eom Heung-do and Danjong and the villagers' interactions with Danjong were filled in with cinematic imagination.
According to an MBN report the previous day, the family of a person surnamed Eom, a writer who once wrote a drama script titled "Eom Heung-do," asked the production company for an explanation, saying that key settings in The King's Warden are similar to the late father's script. Eom, a stage actor who died in 2019, is known to have written a drama script called "Eom Heung-do" in 2000. Eom submitted the script to broadcasters, but production fell through.
The bereaved family argued that the following are similar to Eom's script: ▲ a setup in which the exiled Danjong eats at Eom Heung-do's urging and is satisfied ▲ a setup in which Eom Heung-do saves Danjong as he attempts to throw himself off a cliff ▲ a development in which Eom Heung-do's son is taken to the government office under escort ▲ adapting Danjong's court lady into a single character ▲ adapting Eom Heung-do's three sons into an only son.
Meanwhile, The King's Warden is on the brink of surpassing 12 million moviegoers. According to the integrated computer network tallies of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the film drew 203,146 viewers the previous day, bringing its cumulative audience to 11,706,865. Since surpassing 10 million viewers on the 6th, it has continued its run by drawing more than 200,000 viewers on weekdays, and is expected to surpass the records of the 10-million-viewer films "Taegukgi: Brotherhood Of War" (11.74 million) and "Exhuma" (11.91 million).