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‘BLACKPINK THE MOVIE’: Documentary rakes in $4.8M, nostalgic Blinks celebrate but also slam YG

'BLACKPINK THE MOVIE' is the highest-grossing event cinema of 2021 with almost $5M in revenue collections and more than 500k audience

The global girl group Blackpink went all out for their fifth anniversary by launching the 4+1 project which even included a full movie. The anniversary project consisted of a limited edition photobook, summer diary, Blackpink’s very own account on Weverse and ‘Blackpink The Movie’. Previously, the K-pop group released a documentary series titled ‘Blackpink: Light Up The Sky’ on Netflix in 2020.

The series did exceptionally well as it ranked first in 28 regions. It was also the most viewed Netflix documentary in Asia at the time. It was also critically acclaimed with rave reviews posted by The New York Times and IndieWire. So there was some pressure around coming up with a worthy sequel. ‘Blackpink The Movie’ is also a documentary but in a film format and it has ended up breaking records worldwide for its viewing figures.

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'BLACKPINK THE MOVIE' grosses nearly $5M

While the Netflix series followed the girls from their trainee days to their 2019 Coachella stint, the film highlights their last five years as a group with interviews with the girls, and also documents their concerts ‘The Show’ and ‘In Your Area World Tour’. Fans were overwhelmed from the very first announcement to the trailer where we got a glimpse of Jisoo and Lisa crying. And on August 17, Music Week reported that the revenue collections from the film had nearly reached $5 million. It is the highest-grossing event film (documentary) to be released in cinemas in 2021.

The film was released across theatres in more than 100 regions starting August 4. It was revealed that it grossed approximately $4.8 million and garnered more than 500k viewers from all over the world as it was released in 3.4k cinemas. It also ranked #6 at the box office in USA on the opening night and had the second-highest screening with 100+ screens.

The film is set to also be released across new Asian territories after pandemic restrictions have eased. It also topped in Mexico with more than 120k sales and came in #3 in Turkey on the weekend. Half of the gross revenue was also generated from Saudi Arabia with $250k. The girls also ranked #1 for the brand reputation of female K-pop acts in August.

While fans are happy about this achievement, they're unhappy with Blackpink's label, YG Entertainment. Despite Blink's proving their purchasing power and loyalty to Blackpink as seen with the success of 'Blackpink The Movie', it is no secret that YG hasn't explored the group's full potential. They continue to have very few comebacks and have just released one studio album to date.

While the group has yet to release new music, fans at least expected the girls to create some buzz around solo albums. While YG announced that Lisa will be getting a summer release for her solo debut, there has been zero promotional activities and summer has almost ended. Additionally, Jisoo's first acting gig in the K-drama 'Snowdrop' hasn't been talked about by YG at all, despite the production channel releasing the first trailer.

'BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION'

Since a couple of weeks, fans have been trending hashtags on Twitter to bring the mismanagement of the girls to YG's notice while also celebrating the success of 'Blackpink The Movie'. A Blink commented, “Well well well dominating movie industry as well BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION.” Another joked, “Blinks, is this what you’ll called “Blinks will going to boycott this 4+1 proj coz we’re broke?” One fan was blunt, “YG must be happy another million dollars to inside to their pockets..i don't care about anything i want to see the girls live attend awards that I've been waiting for 3 f**kin years to see them perform.. damn @ygent_official.”

Many fans were angry as this achievement would make YG lazy as they would continue to do the bare minimum, “Even a recycled content in Blackpink The Movie has already contributed 4.8M $ to YG.... Yeah they gonna continue this strategy to milk more money.” One said, “blink: Blackpink comeback when?? Yg:when this clothes will dry.” Some were happy that they wouldn’t have to rely on just YG for ‘Snowdrop’ promotions, “The best thing about snowdrop is that YG has no involvement in the promotions! we gonna be seeing jisoo promote snowdrop after the drama airs too.” Another added, “LMAO YG ENT. It's already 7 months and still there's no update or teaser, poster regarding to Lisa's solo. WE WANT LISA SOLO TEASER TOMORROW.”