Weekly Review Round-up (06/02-06/08, 2012)

First Weekly Review Round-up live from Seoul!  A few write-ups on As One and Kim Ki-duk's Arirang this week as they are release in Australia and the UK respectively.

CURRENT FILMS

As One

(Film Journal, June 1, 2012)

(SBS, June 2, 2012)

Click to read more»

Korean Box Office Update (03/16-03/18, 2012)

Helpless Repeats at the Expense of Russian Coffee

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Helpless	3/8/12	36.20%	561,323	1,567,211	521
2	Chronicle (us)	3/15/12	13.10%	205,425	241,290	324
3	John Carter (us)	3/8/12	12.50%	179,449	679,630	355
4	Russian Coffee	3/15/12	8.70%	139,594	170,103	339
5	The Vow (us)	3/14/12	7.10%	110,159	165,079	314
6	Love Fiction	2/29/12	5.80%	89,658	1,653,853	309
7	This Means War (us)	2/29/12	5.30%	81,900	730,029	231
8	Introduction to Architecture	3/22/12	4.30%	64,960	80,900	282
9	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	2.30%	35,814	4,646,361	210
10	Seeking Justice (us)	3/15/12	1.60%	24,397	29,294	142

While Korea's new release was pretty much dead on arrival, domestic films continued to exert their dominance as the market held at a strong 60% of the weekend's 1.55 million admissions.  This compared very favorably with last year's 16% figure and 1.23 million total.  While the local film industry has been doing well and has put out a number of high profile and quality products, it must be noted that competition from abroad has been weak as no recent Hollywood films were really expected to clinch the top spot.

Top of the pile is the sophomore stint of Helpless which raged on with another 561,323 admissions, a huge weekend that was off a minuscule 7%.  Clearly word of mouth has caught on for this thriller and it may be another early hit for 2012.  It will cross two million admissions before long and unless it suffers a big drop, three million should come along soon after.

The top US offering for the week was Chronicle which pulled in a respectable 205,425.  In its second weekend John Carter dropped a little over 50% for 179,449.  It has a good shot at crossing one million now which, while not a particularly impressive figure for such a huge production, will be seen as a decent result after its calamitous failure in its domestic market.

The expensive period action drama Russian Coffee, starring Joo Jin-mo, Kim Yo-seon and Park Hee-soon was a no-go as it opened in fourth place with a meagre 139,594.  The continued success of Helpless most likely contributed to its disappointing performance but more than that the film presented an awkward image in its marketing and couldn't hope to match the diverse and popular local offerings of the past two months.  I don't expect things to get any better for the film further down the line and it may vanish altogether within a fortnight.

Hollywood romance The Vow, starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams opened with 110,159.  An okay start for a film that has limited appeal in Korea but this performance pales in comparison to the US where it became a big hit.

Love Fiction dropped three spots and lost almost two thirds of its business as it sold another 89,658 tickets.  Last week I said it wouldn't have much trouble crossing two million admissions but now I'm not so sure as it looks to be fading fast.

US action romcom This Means War slowed about 45% for 81,900 in its third weekend.  Though it will likely fall short, it does stand a chance of crossing the one million threshold.

Korean romance Introduction to Architecture played in previews ahead of its opening next Thursday.  It scored a strong 64,960 and considering its positive early notices it could be in for a healthy run.

Nameless Gangster slipped 60% to 35,814 and will likely fall out the top 10 altogether next week.  It won't hit five million but with 4.6 million and counting, it is already by far and away the year's biggest hit.

Rounding out the chart was the new Nicholas Cage revenge pic Seeking Justice as it sold a paltry 24,397 tickets in its opening weekend.  I imagine that this will be the last time we hear about it.

Introduction to Architecture goes wide next weekend and should do strong business but I wouldn't be surprised if it can't muster enough to stand up to Helpless.  Mark Whalberg action-thriller Contraband will also be opening but will likely be playing third fiddle to the aforementioned Korean duo.

Source: kobis.or.kr


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Sunday evening or Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (03/09-03/11, 2012)

Helpless Continues Korean Hot Streak With First Place Finish

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Helpless	3/8/12	35.60%	606,548	685,016	547
2	John Carter of Mars (us)	3/8/12	24.90%	368,197	413,150	511
3	Love Fiction	2/29/12	14.90%	251,821	1,477,986	434
4	This Means War (us)	2/29/12	8.60%	145,037	583,016	306
5	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	5.50%	93,198	4,570,798	301
6	Stanley's Tiffin Box (in)	3/8/12	1.30%	24,847	33,395	162
7	Howling	2/16/12	1.30%	24,162	1,583,645	240
8	Legends of Valhalla: Thor (ic)	2/9/12	1.10%	20,348	739,037	169
9	Safe House (us)	2/29/12	0.90%	15,157	155,265	180
10	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	0.80%	14,701	4,000,931	114

The Korean Film industry's hot streak continues as a local film has led the marketplace for the 8th consecutive week.  This week's new leader is the 6th Korean film to occupy the spot in the past two months.  The more recent Korean films haven't been word of mouth hits like those earlier this year but nevertheless business is good and next week will likely yield yet another new Korean film in pole position.   Let's look at how this week's films fared.

Coming in first place was the new thriller Helpless which stirred up a little bit of controversy earlier this year when one of its one sheets was deemed too risqué and subsequently banned from promotional use.  The film opened with a very healthy 606,548 and reviews have generally been positive.  Given the sophomore stints of a lot of the past few weeks' films it's hard to day how it will hold up, not to mention another big opener bowing in a few days.

John Carter, the $250 million dollar Disney sci-fi pic bombed in the US this weekend but seemed to have slightly better luck in Korea with a decent 368,197 admissions during its opening.  It's not an enormous figure but the property is not known in the east so it performed about as well as could be expected.  Given the film's mediocre reviews, it is unlikely that this will stick around for long but it is not impossible that it could build an audience.  There's a deficit of sci-fi product in the country so this could potentially fill that spot.

Love Fiction saw a fairly steep 55% decline after its big opening which left it with 251,821.  It's a shade below 1.5 million admissions in total and shouldn't have much trouble crossing two.  It was strong out of the gate but looks to be fading fast.

This Means War dropped two spots to number four as it added 145,037 to its total, this represented a healthy 30% drop.  With more weekends like this it could cross the 1 million mark before long.

Nameless Gangster dropped again, this time 50% for 93,198.  It has 4.57 million admissions stowed away but seems less and less likely to make it to the big 5 mark though.  Of course that's just an arbitrary milestone as the film has of course been extremely successful.

Indian film Stanley's Tiffin Box opened with 24,847, a strong figure for a South Asian Film though nowhere near as impressive as 3 Idiot's run last summer.

Howling slipped three spots and was off 77% as it took another 24,162.  Sadly this looks like the end of the line for this well-liked film that simply got lost in the shuffle.

Icelandic animation Legends of Valhalla: Thor is hanging in there as it spends a 5th week in the top 10 with 20,348 take.  It won't cross the one million mark but getting past 750,000 will be seen as a strong achievement.

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds thriller Safe House completely crumbled after it's already disastrous opening as it pulled in a meager 15,157 after a 78% drop.   We won't be hearing about this one anymore.

Closing out the top 10 is likely the last appearance of Dancing Queen as it shed half its theaters and slowed over 70%.  However its 14,701 weekend was enough to just cross over the four million mark, a fitting milestone to commemorate its very impressive box office run.

Next week the big new release will be Russian Coffee (Gabi) which will seek to push Helpless out of top spot.  I imagine it will though I am not expecting any gargantuan figure for its opening.  The film has had a troubled production and I'm not sure how high interest is, though certainly awareness is widespread.  Also opening is Hollywood romance The Vow and Chinese epic 1911.

Source: kobis.or.kr



The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Sunday evening or Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Cinema News (03/01-03/07, 2012)

A very busy week for Korean cinema news with lots of big announcements, but first and foremost we are in the midst of the brilliant Korean Blogathon, the links of which can be found below.

In other news I also had the great fortune of bumping into Bong Joon-ho at London Luton Airport last Thursday on my way to the East Winds Symposium + Festival and he told me he was in town to meet some actors for Snow Piercer.  So things seem to be heating up for that very exciting project which is set to start production in a few weeks.

Enjoy!

KOREAN CINEMA BLOGATHON

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Elizabeth Olsen Offered Female Leas in Spike Lee's Oldboy

Outside of Josh Brolin the casting has not come particularly quick or easy for the Spike Lee directed remake of Oldboy.  For the female lead both Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska have been offered and rejected the part and Twitch has now learned that the role of Marie has been offered to Elizabeth Olsen.  (Twitch, February 28, 2012)

Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) Expands to Brisbane in 2012
KOFFIA is heading to Brisbane this September, so spread the word!  3 years, 3 cities, 3 times the fun!  No word on the line-up yet, but Sydney can certainly look forward to a full calendar of Korean films in the meantime. The second season of the Korean Cultural Office’s Cinema on the Park has also launched.   (The Reel Bits, February 28, 2012)

Nameless Gangster Emerging as Hottest Korean Movie of the Year
Nameless Gangster has attracted over 4 million spectators in just 26 days of its release, emerging as the first film to sell so many tickets in such a short time this year. It achieved the feat on Monday.  The success of Nameless Gangster is even more notable as it was achieved in February, considered the low season for movies, and is rated R, excluding younger viewers and families.  (The Chosun Ilbo, February 29, 2012)

From the Makers of Chawz Comes New Korean Supernatural Thriller
In The Fortune Tellers, bespectacled cutie Kang Ye-won heads to a remote village where a grand exorcism is about to take place.  Chawz was a bit overly long but it did a great job balancing comedy, pathos, and wild creature sequences so we should expect great things from The Fortune Tellers.  From these pictures, it certainly looks like it’ll be a lot of fun. The film opens in South Korea later this year.  (City on Fire, March 2, 2012)

Gorilla to Play Baseball in Korean Sports Comedy Mr. Go
Filming has already begun for Mr Go 3D, a sports comedy based on a popular manhwa (Korean comic) by Heo Yeong-man - his other works has also been adapted for Le Grand Chef.  The story is about a gorilla from a Chinese circus that is trained to play professional baseball in Korea.  Budgeted at $20 million, the ambitious live action film is being shot in stereoscopic 3-D and will utilize a combination of motion capture performances and digital effects à la Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  (Twitch, March 6, 2012)

So Ji-sub Stars in Korean Hitman Thriller A Company Man
Korean heartthrob So Ji-Sub turned heads around the world with his role in 2008's Rough Cut.  Already a star of television dramas, Rough Cut put So back on the map in Korea after a couple years away while he did his mandatory military service and he has been very selective with his roles since, appearing in big budget TV drama Cain and Abel and Chinese feature Sophie's Revenge.  And soon he will be back on the big screen at home thanks to his lead part in Lim Sang-yoon's A Company Man.  (Twitch, March 6, 2012)

Busan Plans for New Studio Complex

Busan, the South Korean city that is already home to one of Asia's leading film festivals, has moved forward with its plans to build a world-class film studio.  The KOFIC facility would be the second set of new studios to be built in the city, after the Busan Film Commission's on-going redevelopment project.  Late last month the city authorities signed an agreement with the Korean Film Council, (KOFIC) that is expected to see the two bodies jointly finance the new studios.  (Film Business Asia, March 7, 2012)

INTERVIEWS

Quirky New Film Makes the Most of a Hairy Mess
Love Fiction, the new film by Jeon Kye-su, has a quirky element that is generating a buzz on the Internet: armpit hair.  Since before the film’s release on Wednesday, the phrase has become one of the top searches on major Web portals.  But there’s more to this film than that.  The Korea JoongAng Daily recently caught up with Jeon and talked with him about his insightful and unconventional romantic comedy.  (The Joong Ang Daily, March 2, 2012)

Kim Min-hee Anything But Helpless in New Movie Role
Actress Kim Min-hee, who stars in the film Helpless, which is scheduled to be released next Thursday, fell in love with the movie as soon as she read the script.  "I love films about characters with checkered lives, so I thought this role would give me a chance to show what I am capable of as an actress because it fits my style," she said.  (The Chosun Ilbo, March 3, 2012)

Interview with Fox International Production Creative Executive Paul Huh
Will this be a source of new energy for the Korean film industry, or a new era in which it will have to compete with Hollywood’s studio system in making Korean-language films?  Fox International Production (FIP), part of the 20th Century Fox Entertainment group, has declared it is officially entering the Korean film production market.  Dohoon Kim met with FIP’s Korean Creative Executive Paul Huh to talk about their plans. After studying finance in New York, Huh started working in the Korean film industry first at MK Pictures's international sales team and later became a producer.  (KoBiZ, March 6, 2012)

TRAILERS

Doomsday Book


Over My Dead Body

BOX OFFICE

Love Fiction and Ha Jung-woo Conquer the Marketplace

(Modern Korean Cinema, March 5, 2012)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (03/2-03/4, 2012)

Love Fiction and Ha Jung-woo Conquer the Marketplace

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Love Fiction	2/29/12	37.60%	567,529	1,013,532	615
2	This Means War (us)	2/29/12	13.90%	212,387	337,149	351
3	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	12.90%	194,585	4,399,127	350
4	Howling	2/16/12	6.40%	103,240	1,531,667	372
5	Man on a Ledge (us)	2/22/12	4.50%	70,935	546,532	284
6	Safe House (us)	2/29/12	4.40%	70,148	115,418	291
7	Act of Valor (us)	2/29/12	3.50%	54,371	99,208	222
8	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	3.20%	51,315	3,966,611	220
9	Legends of Valhalla: Thor (ic)	2/9/12	2.50%	42,211	717,099	249
10	Hugo (us)	2/29/12	2.00%	22,400	40,418	85

The dominance of local films shows no signs of abating as yet another high profile Korean release has clinched the top spot.  March is typically a very slow time for theaters but nevertheless over 1.5 million tickets were sold over the past weekend, a 20% increase over last year's similar frame.  Meanwhile Korean films accounted for a very healthy 60% of business which more than doubled last year's result.

As predicted Love Fiction came in strong with a big first place finish as it sold 567,529 tickets and has already accumulated over a million admissions since its release.  Ha Jung-woo has the distinction of starring in two of the chart's top three films and there is no question that he has become a significant draw for as top billing.  Word of mouth seems decent on this pic and it should continue to do some strong business though competition will be very fierce with a number of high profile local and foreign releases opening in the coming weeks.

Hollywood romance-action film This Means War floundered in America so its 212,387 take here comes as a bit of a surprise though it is by no means an exceptional figure.  In any case it won't last as it will likely crumble in its sophomore frame against heavy competition.

Nameless Gangster continues its strong run though it did slow 45% this past week as it wound up with another 194,585.  It has 4.4 million admissions stacked way so far and it may struggle to reach the big 5 million milestone though stands a fighting chance of reaching the mark.  It is certainly the early hit of 2012 and may be some time before another film unseats it at the top of the chart.

Howling meanwhile continues its disappointing performance as it dropped 60% for a 103,240 take.  Word of mouth has been strong for the film but it got lost amidst so many unexpected hits in February.  At this rate it may not even reach the 2 million threshold.  After the failure of last year's Hindsight, could it be that Song Kang-ho's drawing power is fading?

Man on a Ledge crumbled over 70% in its sophomore frame as it added 70,935 tickets to its haul.  Hollywood's Denzel Washington genre pic Safe House failed to find a mark as it opened with 70,148.  Act of Valor, wich surprised in the US last week, didn't find an audience in Korea as it sold only 54,371 tickets during its opening.

Dancing Queen fell 65% as it added 51,315 admissions to its take.  However, it should cross the 4 million mark in a few days and that is a very impressive achievement.

Icelandic animation film Legends of Valhalla: Thor finished with a 42,211 weekend for 9th place while Martin Scorsese's 3D pic Hugo disappointed as it took the 10th spot with a measly 22,400.

Next week there are no less than eight Korean films opening including the highly-anticipated Helpless which is getting some strong reviews.  Meanwhile major Hollywood blockbuster John Carter will also be opening.  I think Helpless will take the crown as the John Carter proprety is not in itself going to be a draw for local audiences.  In any case Korean cinema looks to continue to do well and will likely do strong business throughout March.

Source: kobis.or.kr


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Sunday evening or Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (02/24-02/26, 2012)

Nameless Gangster Fights Back During Close Weekend

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	22.10%	353,394	3,987,379	495
2	Howling	2/16/12	19.30%	330,321	1,237,340	467
3	Man On a Ledge (us)	2/22/12	15.70%	260,386	334,604	409
4	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	8.90%	152,620	3,820,406	344
5	Underworld 4 (us)	2/22/12	7.60%	101,695	138,798	343
6	Legends of Valhalla (is)	2/9/12	5.40%	96,310	578,744	293
7	The Iron Lady (uk)	2/23/12	2.90%	47,564	56,386	154
8	Tarbosaurus 3D	1/26/12	3.30%	44,462	958,933	161
9	The Grey (us)	2/16/12	2.50%	41,876	279,309	214
10	Legend of a Rabbit (ch)	2/22/12	2.30%	41,448	58,679	224

It was another nail-biter this past weekend as the top two films battled for first place.   Overall business was down somewhat from last weekend and last year but on the plus side the domestic share remained strong as local films sold two out of every three tickets over the frame.

Nameless Gangster came out on top in the end with 353,394, its third chart-topping performance in four weeks.  Even more good news is that the film will cross the four million mark on Monday and stands a a good chance of reaching another benchmark.  It will face some competition in the coming weeks, mostly from more Korean releases, but things will get harder in March as new Hollywood male-skewing blockbusters will enter the marketplace.

Howling was a close number two with 330,321 but this represented an unimpressive 40% drop which, for a second weekend, typically means that the picture hasn't caught on.  The film is well past the one million mark and will likely cross two before too long but is unlikely to go any further.   Given the film's positive notices it's hard to see why the film didn't follow the success of the very recent Korean hits but perhaps that's just it.  Too many local films found a big audience in a short time frame, which no one expected, making it difficult for even a solid release such as this one to squeeze out similar numbers.

Hollywood thriller Man On a Ledge opened with a decent 260,386 but will likely tumble down a few flights come next weekend.

Dancing Queen slipped another spot for 152,620 but was only off 15%.  At this rate it will become the second release of the year to cross the four million mark within a week, after Nameless Gangster beats it to the milestone by a few days.   A great performance though soon it will have to make way for new local products readying for release.

Underworld 4 barely registered with a 101,695 opening weekend but this comes as no surprise given that the franchise has not previously met with much success on the peninsula.

Icelandic animation Legends of Valhalla: Thor continued its unlikely run as it added another 96,310 to its modestly successful total.

Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady opened with 47,564, not too bad considering such a film would have limited appeal in Korea.

Korean animation Tarbosaurus 3D dropped another spot and nearly 40% for 44,462 but it looks set to become only the second Korean animation, after last year's Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, to cross the one million admissions mark domestically.

Liam Neeson vehicle The Grey crumbled in its sophomore weekend, falling four rungs and losing 70% of its business for a tepid 41,876 take.  The action pic is unlikely to register in the top 10 for a third weekend.

Chinese animation Legend of a Rabbit was a no-go as it debuted in tenth place with 41,448.   Too many animation films lately meant that this one never really stood a chance.

Unbowed just missed the top 10 with 35,842 as it crossed 3.4 million admissions.

Next week's major release is the Ha Jung-woo and Kong Hyo-jin romcom Love Fiction.  Ha is already riding high with Nameless Gangster and will likely end up as the lead of next weekend's top two films.   The question is how well will his latest fare?   I'm betting it will do quite well, perhaps pulling in over 500,000 admissions.

Source: kobis.or.kr


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Sunday evening or Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Upcoming Releases: February 2012

This monthly features previews the coming month's attractions in Korean cinema.  All of these monthly posts are available in an archive on the Upcoming Releases page.

February 2

Nameless Gangster

Papa

February 9

Two Lines

February 16

Howling

February 23

The Angel's Breath

February 29

Comic Book Store 3D

Love Fiction

Nameless Gangster

Director:  Yun Jong-bin

Screenwriter:  Yun Jong-bin

Cast:  Choi Min-sik, Ha Jung-woo

Synopsis:  Nameless Gangster chronicles the happenings in Busan, South Korea when the government in 1990 declared its war against crime. A corrupt public official (Choi Min-sik) faces criminal charges and meets Choi Hyung-bae (Ha Jung-woo), a mysterious man with connections to the Yakuza.

Release date:  February 2

Anticipation is riding high for young Yun Jong-bin's third feature after The Unforgiven (2005) and Beastie Boys (2008).  The period set gangster film pairs veteran thespian Choi Min-sik (Oldboy, 2003; I Saw the Devil, 2010) and up-and-coming star Ha Jung-woo (The Chaser, 2005; The Yellow Sea, 2010).  Numerous impressive stills and some promising trailers have already appeared on the web.  Nameless Gangster is shaping up to be one of the 2012's early hits.

Reviews:

enewsworld
Seongyeong's Private Place

Papa

Director:  Han Ji-seung

Cast:  Park Yong-roo, Ko Ah-ra, Daniel Henney

Synopsis:  Choon-Sub  (Park Yong-roo) is a talent manager who goes to the US after a client runs off.  To stay he must get married for a visa and soon he ends up with six new children.

Release date:  February 2

Papa is Han Ji-seung's second film following Venus and Mars in 2007.  90% of the film is said to have been filmed in America and it follows a rash of multicultural Korean films that have appeared recently, such as He's On Duty (2010).  Originally slated for the Lunar New Year holiday weekend, Papa was rescheduled due to an overcrowded field.

Two Lines

Director:  Ji Min

Synopsis:  Ji Min and Cheol met in university ten years ago and now live together as roomates and lovers.  People ask them why they won't get married since they're at that age but they've never seen the reason to.  Life was happy enough as it was until they come face to face with two dark red lines on a home pregnancy test.

Release date:  February 9

New documentary which premiered at the 13th International Women's Film Festival in Seoul last March from Ji Min.   Her previous film won the Ock Rang Award at the same festival and she had previously also been involved with docs To Live - Save Our Saemankum (2006) and The War, You and I (2010).  

Howling

Director:  Ha Yu

Cast:  Lee Na-young, Song Kang-ho

Synopsis:  A man dies by spontaneous combustion.  Animal teeth marks are discovered on his body.  A veteran male cop (Song Kang-ho) and rookie female (Lee Na-young) start to investigate.

Release date:  February 16

Without a doubt one of the most promising projects of 2012, Howling is acclaimed director Ha Yu's (Once Upon a Time in High School, 2004; A Dirty Carnival, 2006; A Frozen Flower, 2008) fifth feature.  As well as boasting a top cast with Song Kang-ho and Lee Na-young, the film has an intriguing premise which starts off with spontaneous combustion.  The moment this project came to light I was already very excited and there are few films I am more eager to discover.

Reviews:

The Korea Herald
Yonhap News Agency

Angel's Breath

Director:  Han Ji-won

Screenwriter:  Han Ji-won

Cast:  Kim Yeong-seon, Han Ji-won

Synopsis:  Jae-min's (Han Ji-won) dream is to become a super star.   His sick mother Yeong-ran (Kim Yeong-son) does what she can to support him. 

Release date:  February 23

Bar the information provided above and the trailed posted below, I have no further information on this low budget release.

Love Fiction

Director:  Jeon Kye-soo
Screenwriter:  Jeon Kye-soo
Cast:  Ha Jung-woo, Kong Hyo-jin
Synopsis:  A shy novelist falls for a beautiful, confident woman.

Release date:   February 29

Jeon Kye-soo's third feature, after Midnight Ballad for Ghost Theater (2006) and Lost and Found (2009).  Ha Jung-woo has been very busy of late, racking up an impressive set of credits including The Yellow Sea (2010) and The Client (2010) and has a lot coming up including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Berlin File, and Nameless Gangster which will be released the same month.  The film also stars Kong Hyo-jin who has been equally impressive of late with stand out turns in Crush and Blush (2008) and Rolling Home With a Bull (2010).

Comic Book Store 3D

Director:  Heo Jae-hyeong

Cast: Lee Eun-mi, Lim Ah-yeong, Jang Sang-jin, Jeong I-gyeol

Synopsis:  So-ra has tough luck with her auditions and she blames the directors for her rejections. One She runs into Seung-hyeon, someone she used to act with.  He invites her to a film set and So-ra gets to fill in for an actress fails to show up.
Release date:  February 29

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.