Posters for the 2011 film "Spellbound," left, alongside its tvN television adaptation "Spooky in Love" / Courtesy of CJ ENM, tvN

A romance with a woman who sees ghosts, a Joseon-era libertine’s dangerous romantic wager and a criminal who vanishes by turning into gas. Television and streaming platforms are increasingly reviving the premises of classic films and reworking them for contemporary audiences. Driven by a streaming boom, the Korean entertainment industry is expanding its focus beyond webtoons and web novels to revisit past cinematic hits for their built-in audiences.

The tvN weekend series "Spooky in Love," a television remake of the 2011 film "Spellbound," premiered July 18. The original film, starring Son Ye-jin as the ghost-seeing Yeo-ri and Lee Min-ki as horror magician Jo-goo, became a rare box-office hit for a romantic comedy.

The new series retains the central premise of the female protagonist being able to see ghosts but reimagines the story by changing the characters' occupations, focusing on a romance between Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin), an heiress to a family-run conglomerate, and a prosecutor who fears ghosts (Yang Se-jong). Speaking at a press event for the series, Park highlighted the expanded format and premises.