Juno Baek has been writing reviews of DVDs, blu-rays, and home theaters for almost 15 years through local magazines. When he was approached by a company called Life Labs Media to work on blu-rays, Juno was thrilled. There, he worked on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tree of Life, Wu Xia, and others.

After working on several projects, he wanted to start his own company and bet big on Lars von Trier’s Melancholia knowing it wasn’t a huge blockbuster.

“I saw Melancholia in the theater and what an overwhelming experience it was. But I knew no-one was going to do a blu-ray release because it didn’t do well in the box office. I found out who the distributor was, and bought the rights soon after,” said Juno, CEO of Plain Archive.

But almost everyone that knew Juno tried to stop him from establishing this venture. It was extremely risky.

“In the early 2000s, DVD sales were great. Bong Joon-ho’s The Host, as an example, sold somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 copies. The market was big enough for companies to invest in DVD productions. Cast and crew were basically summoned to record commentaries back then. But when Blu-rays arrived, the market began to crumble. To reach the break-even point as quickly as possible, companies were cutting costs left, right, and center. And the overall quality of blu-ray releases dropped significantly. So I thought, why not go the opposite direction and put a lot of care into these products?” said Juno.

To release Melancholia, Juno commissioned an artwork for the slip case, attended a book-making class to figure out the booklet he was going to include in the package, and asked creative individuals to write and draw to fill the blank pages.

He says it’s worth the effort.

Oldboy, the 10th Anniversary Digitally Remastered edition is Plain’s most ambitious project of 2014. Juno pitched the idea to director Park Chan-wook, and he was immediately on board. Plain is currently working on the steelbook design, a new audio commentary, a photo book, and video interviews.

You can expect Plain Archive to release the following titles this year.

In no particular order:

• The King of Pigs
• I Saw the Devil
• Om Shanti Om
• The Master
• Zero Dark Thirty
• Blue Is the Warmest Colour
• Rust and Bone
• Holy Motors
• Oldboy

Plain Archive’s main goal is to continue to make products that satisfy blu-ray collectors and ultimately movie fans around the world.

Culture beyond Media.