Showing posts with label man on the edge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label man on the edge. Show all posts

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Man on the Edge (박수건달, Baksoogeondal) 2012


The gangster comedy, once one the biggest money-spinners in the Korean film industry, has fallen out of favor recently. Truth is, most high concept comedies struggle in the Korean marketplace these days. Yet for many years they were the king of the charts. In 2001, the gangster comedies Kick the Moon, My Wife Is a Gangster, Hi Dharma and My Boss My Hero, as well as Jang Jin’s hitman comedy Guns & Talk, all featured among the year’s top seven films. A year later, the first entry in the Marrying the Mafia franchise (which would spawn five installments) rode its way to the top of the chart.

What is it about the mix between gangsters and comedy (frequently romantic comedy) that has so enticed Korean viewers? Narratives featuring organized crime have always been popular the world-over and things are certainly no different here. However, in a male-driven country dominated by social hierarchy, it could be that the infantilization of these hoodlums was a welcome source of respite within the safe confines of the country’s multiplexes. In any case this clever piece of genre hybridity burned bright for a number of years before suffering increasingly diminishing returns. A few months ago, the final installment in the Marrying the Mafia franchise failed to attract over a million viewers, demonstrating that the format was running on empty.

Monday, February 4, 2013

KBO: Miracle in Berlin, Record 1-2 Finish at Korean BO (02/01-02/03, 2013)

Miracle in Berlin, Record 1-2 Finish at Korean BO


Title Release Date Market Share Weekend Total Screens
1 The Berlin File 13/01/30 43.40% 1,532,210 2,245,404 897
2 Miracle in Cell No.7 13/01/29 37.50% 1,360,776 4,191,854 869
3 Man on the Edge 13/01/23 6.20% 223,531 659,045 388
4 Pororo: the Racing Adventure 13/01/09 3.80% 137,896 3,826,738 367
5 Hotel Transylvania (us) 13/01/17 2.40% 93,290 868,382 297
6 Les Miserables (uk/us) 12/12/19 1.70% 62,422 5,785,971 208
7 Detective Conan (jp) 13/01/24 1.00% 39,576 165,382 127
8 Life of Pie (us) 13/01/01 1.40% 34,584 1,550,725 89
9 The Impossible (sp/us) 13/01/17 0.70% 25,772 617,916 118
10 The Life of Guskou of Budori (jp) 13/01/30 0.30% 12,778 16,251 113

Monday, January 28, 2013

KBO: Miracle in Cell No.7 Dominates the Chart (01/25-01/27, 2012)

Miracle in Cell No.7 Dominates the Chart


Title Release Date Market Share Weekend Total Screens
1 Miracle in Cell No.7 13/01/23 42.00% 1,238,809 1,628,475 769
2 Man on the Edge 13/01/09 16.50% 482,961 3,469,054 542
3 Pororo: The Racing Adventure 13/01/23 10.30% 296,695 342,773 451
4 Hotel Transylvania (us) 13/01/17 5.70% 179,874 707,925 357
5 Les Miserables (uk/us) 12/19/12 5.40% 156,426 5,629,952 344
6 Jack Reacher (us) 13/01/17 4.00% 116,100 727,261 320
7 The Impossible (sp/us) 13/01/17 3.20% 97,402 559,576 242
8 Life of Pie (us) 13/01/09 4.60% 86,099 1,480,176 155
9 The Tower 12/25/12 2.80% 83,963 5,133,494 261
10 Conan: the Movie (jp) 13/01/24 2.50% 82,108 102,059 139

Monday, January 21, 2013

KBO: Man on the Edge Maintains its Edge (01/18-01/20, 2012)

Man on the Edge Maintains its Edge


Title Release Date Market Share Weekend Total Screens
1 Man on the Edge 13/01/09 31.40% 876,555 2,501,068 603
2 Jack Reacher (us) 13/01/17 14.00% 389,003 465,281 431
3 Hotel Transylvania (us) 13/01/17 11.50% 335,707 393,587 489
4 The Impossible (sp/us) 13/01/17 9.70% 277,529 339,730 408
5 Les Miserables (uk/us) 12/19/12 9.70% 271,876 5,317,090 373
6 The Tower 12/25/12 9.10% 259,016 4,941,668 406
7 Life of Pie (us) 13/01/09 8.50% 169,036 1,316,624 279
8 The Reef 2: High Tide (us/kr) 13/01/10 1.70% 51,573 248,266 235
9 Cloud Atlas (us) 13/01/09 1.80% 48,035 426,480 235
10 Love 911 12/19/12 0.60% 16,333 2,469,056 97

Monday, January 14, 2013

KBO: Man on the Edge Edges Out Competition (01/11-01/13, 2012)

Man on the Edge Edges Out Competition


Title Release Date Market Share Weekend Total Screens
1 Man on the Edge 13/01/09 30.10% 796,748 1,029,672 599
2 The Tower 12/25/12 19.10% 512,677 4,455,084 482
3 Les Miserables (uk/us) 12/19/12 13.20% 351,246 4,825,497 410
4 Life of Pie (us) 13/01/01 12.80% 246,741 1,019,831 312
5 Cloud Atlas (us) 13/01/09 8.40% 213,580 299,644 382
6 The Reef 2: High Tide (us/kr) 13/01/10 4.60% 129,992 151,226 298
7 My Little Hero 13/01/09 3.10% 85,624 121,372 324
8 Love 911 12/19/12 3.20% 84,309 2,414,195 257
9 Wreck-it Ralph (us) 12/19/12 1.70% 48,509 893,331 220
10 Zambezi (us) 12/25/12 1.10% 31,011 454,896 141

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Korean Films: Raising Social Issues With A Musical (2013 Week 2)

(by Fabien Schneider) 

After a first week which left the field open to independent productions, CJ Entertainment and Showbox enter into the dance with two medium-budget films that should have difficulty unseating The Tower from its box office perch.


My Little Hero (마이 리틀 히어로)



A music director opportunistically accepts to lead the rehearsal of a troupe for the musical adaptation of King Jungjo’s life. To cast the main role, he organizes a competition on a national TV channel in which applicants are auditioned blindly and thus selected solely on the basis of their voices. He is completely taken aback when he realizes that the chosen boy, Young-kwang, is actually a mestizo. While teaching him the choreography, the music director begins to become more interested in his Philippine origins.