Business stayed very strong this weekend as yet another big Korean release took the top spot though it was a close finish for first place. Two million tickets were sold over the frame and the overall market share for Korean films hit 70%, preserving a remarkable streak of recent domestic advantage.
Howling won the weekend as many expected it would but by a slimmer margin than expected. It's 530,291 opening was good but not remarkable. Though given the recent performances of films like Nameless Gangster and Unbowed, both of which strike similar demographics, perhaps this should come as no surprise. However, reviews have been strong so word of mouth may see Howling increase in its sophomore frame.
In its third weekend, Nameless Gangster came a close second with 498,920 admissions. Direct competition from Howling did lead to a 40% drop in business but it is still pulling in big numbers. Currently it is well over the three million admissions mark and will be knocking on the door of four million soon. It remains to be seen whether it can vie for five as well.
Dancing Queen also lost some steam in its fifth weekend as it wound up with 178,364. The Uhm Jeong-hwa and Hwang Jeong-min comedy is now over the 3.5 million mark and will attempt to cross four but this will not be an easy task. Regardless, the film has already been an enormous hit.
After its surprisingly good opening last weekend, Icelandic animated film Legends of Valhalla: Thor remained almost steady as it collected an additional 154,176 sales. The picture will easily cross half a million and could go further still. A good performance in any case but given the glut of children's films lately, it's interesting that this one came seemingly out of nowhere to outperform most of them.
Liam Neeson actioneer The Grey had a midlevel opening with 152,028. Hollywood is having a tough go as local competition targeting the same audiences have overwhelmed it.
Unbowed slipped three spots to number 6 and shed over 60% of its business in the process for a 96,598 weekend. The Ahn Sung-ki surprise hit has had a fantastic run and its total will soon cross the 3.5 million mark. From here on out it will begin to shed theaters quickly as exhibitors look to clear away space for new films.
Tarbosaurus 3D is inching closer to the one million mark (it would only be the second animation to cross it after last year's hit Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild) as it garnered some 71,608 viewers over the frame. It is still proving to be a very interesting time for Korean animation.
Two new US openers filled out slots 8 and 9, and both wer unable to entice audiences. Woman in Black started its run with a tepid 65,640 while Nic Cage superhero sequel Ghost Rider 3D was D.O.A. with 53,741.
Rounding out the chart was Papa, which added another 24,341 in its third weekend. The picture has crossed half a million but is a long way from being considered successful.
The only major release opening next weekend is Hollywood's Underworld 4 but the battle for first place will likely be waged between Howling and Nameless Gangster.
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.
Lots of big reviews for My Way this week as it played at the Berlin Film Festival and also a number of reviews for romance films coinciding with Valentine's Day this past Tuesday, including a series for Hanguk Yeonghwa.
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. 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.
Kwak Kyung-taek is primarily known as a maker of manly
films, his filmography includes a number of testosterone fuelled works such as Friend (2001), Typhoon (2005), and Eye For
an Eye (2008). So it should
come as some surprise that in 2011, his ninth feature was essentially a romance
film, or so the marketers behind it would have us believe. The truth is, Kwak is actually no stranger
to romance narratives. One of his
best films is Love (2007) and if the
title wasn’t enough of a giveaway, it is a love story, albeit one played in a
world of gangsters.
Nam-soon (Kwon Sang-woo) lost his family in an accident when he was young and as a result he no longer feels any pain. He now works as a debt collector whose partner beats him in front of debtors until they pay up. He lives an emotionally barren life until he meets Dong-hyeon (Jeong Ryeo-won), a street stall vendor who suffers from hemophilia. As their unlikely bond grows stronger, Nam-soon gradually opens up and a lifetime of hurt washes over him.
Having seen six of his films I’m still a little undecided as
to how good a filmmaker Kwak is. Friend was a strong feature that
prompted such a wave of popularity in Korea that it carried him to the upper
echelons of the industry, not least because the film was reportedly based on
his own youth. His films are always
polished and are well put together but he lacks a visual stamp, which is a
defining feature for many of his confreres in the industry. Aside from male characters, the most
defining characteristic of Kwak’s films is the omnipresence of his protagonist's
backstories, they are never free of tragedy or their social class. Structurally this will be conveyed in
one of two ways, either we are presented with the tragedy or poor social
setting beforehand as a prologue to the events of the films, such as in Friend, Mutt Boy (2003), and Love,
or we discover their traumatic backstories through flashback, like in Typhoon, Eye for an Eye, and now Pain.
Like so many Korean films that have come before it, the
source of the protagonist’s anguish in Pain
is rooted in a deadly car crash. Off
the top of my head, in 2011 alone, I can think of Champ, Blind, and the popular
K-Drama City Hunter that have all
used the same trop. Granted it is
an effective tool but perhaps more to the point, it has believability on its
side. There aren’t many accidents
that can wipe out most of a family and still be deemed plausible. Fires (also very popular in Korean
cinema) and vehicular collisions pretty much fill out this list.
Riskier still are the ailments of the lead characters. Analgesia and hemophilia are conditions
that we do not encounter on a daily basis, far from it. So to have two characters suffering
from them meet and fall in love goes quite a ways to stretching credulity. Misgivings aside though, it works
surprisingly well. It’s original
and leads to some novel situations while also accentuating the emotional highs
and lows of the narrative. Of
course Nam-soon's insensitivity to pain is also a metaphor for the suppression of his
traumatic memories, to the point where he can no longer feel them or any thing
else. He holds himself responsible
for his family’s death and as a result constantly subjects himself to
punishment. Since he cannot feel
pain, this cycle can only accelerate and escalate, never providing any
relief.
Throughout Kwak’s films you won’t find many strong female
characters. Even in Love, the presence of the female romantic interest
is largely symbolic: the impetus of the film’s actions rest on Joo Jin-mo’s
character’s shoulders. I wondered
whether Pain would suffer a similar
fate but thankfully Dong-hyeon is afforded much more characterization than
previous women in his films.
Perhaps even more successful is the casting of the delightful Jeong
Ryeo-won, who was wonderful in Castaway
on the Moon (2009). She’s
perfect for the part, equal parts tough, vulnerable, and cute, and as always, a
joy to watch on screen.
I think that Pain
stands as one of Kwak’s best films, even though it was far from his most
successful one. The only part of
the film that drags is the end, which smacks a little of inevitability. However, it does make reference to the conclusion of Park Kwang-su’s seminal Chilsu and Mansu (1988), whose damaged
characters find themselves at an impasse by the film's end. They stare down into a precipice from up on high, not quite understanding
what lead them there and helpless as they await their fate, forced upon them by
a traumatized society, which is breathlessly trying to move towards the light.
Some good features this week and lots of news from the Berlin Film Festival as foreign rights to hot Korean films are getting snatched up. Lots more news, trailers, interviews, and posters as well.
KOREAN CINEMA NEWS
Finecut Unveils Another Film by Hong
South Korean sales company Finecut Co Ltd has released the first images from In Another Country, the new Hong Sang-soo film that it is representing. The film is the South Korean debut of leading French actress Isabelle Huppert. She plays three characters each with the same name who each visit the same seaside town and meet the same local residents. The rest of the cast, including Yu Jun-san, are South Korean, but much of the dialogue is in English. (Film Business Asia, February 15, 2012)
The Korea Media Rating Board (KMRB) denied the poster for the movie Gabi for the reason that Kim Min-hee's topless pose is too raunchy. Therefore, this poster can't be used in theaters or promotional uses. There have been other cases where posters like these have been denied. One it has been refused, the production has to go through the process of editing the poster and getting it re-examined by the KMRB. The posters are usually denied because they are too erotic. 2009 movie Thirst by Park Chan-wook was denied because it was too erotic and was only passed when the KMRB re-examined it after editing. (hancinema.net, February 8, 2012)
Popular Korean Films Reflecting Social Issues
Korean movies that tackle social issues head on have recently become the center of attention in the country. They not only portray reality, but also provoke discussions. Arirang News correspondent Park Ji-won analyzes two films that are now screening here in Korea, which are now raising questions about Korea's political and legal conditions. (arirang, February 8, 2012)
With the start of the new year, the Korean film industry looks to its brightest prospects. Kang Byeong-jin of Korean Cinema Today profiles eight highly anticipated films of 2012, including Ghost Sweeper, The Thieves, Korea, Howling, The Tower, The Masquerade King, and Hoogoong: Jaewang-eui chub. (Korean Cinema Today, February 7, 2012)
Tom Giammarco considers the history of sport in Korean film over on Seen in Jeonju. (Seen in Jeonju, February 5, 2012)
From Korea With Love
Bangkok-based writer and critic Kong Rithdee looks at the influence of Korean moving images in Thailand and gauges the depth of the Korean Wave. In late January, So Ji-sub and Han Hyo-ju walked down the red carpet at HuaHin International Film Festival, the inaugural edition of the cinefest held in Thailand’s popular resort town. (Korean Cinema Today, February 6, 2012)
Finecut Launches Sales on Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta
Seoul-based sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to Pieta, the latest film from prolific Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk. Scheduled to start shooting this month, the film tells the story of a cruel loan shark, who believes he doesn’t have any family or loved ones, so has no need to fear when committing brutal acts. But one day a mysterious woman appears in his life claiming to be his mother. (Screen Daily, February 10, 2012)
Finecut Adds Grand Heist, Ghost Sweepers to Berlin Slate
Seoul-based sales company Finecut has picked up two new Korean genre films – $10m period action adventure The Grand Heist, and $5m comic action horror Ghost Sweepers. (Screen Daily, February 9, 2012)
Berlin 2012: Universal Pictures International Inks Multi-Territory Pact for My Way
Universal Pictures International Entertainment has taken multiple territories for the Korean war epic My Way, which has its world premiere Friday night at the Berlin international film festival. UPIE snagged rights in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand for the film, a World War II epic directed by Kang Je-Kyu and featuring Asian stars Odagiri Joe, Jang Dong-gun and Fan Bingbing. (The Hollywood Reporter, February 10, 2012)
Korea’s M-Line Opens Doomsday Book
Korea’s M-Line Distribution is launching sales on the sci-fi drama Doomsday Book, co-directed by Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung, at the EFM. The $5m film comprises three short stories – the first about a robot achieving enlightenment, the second about a zombie invasion and the third about a meteor wiping out mankind. (Screen Daily, February 11, 2012)
Korean Movies Reflecting Social Issues Fly High at the Box Office Dancing Queen, a comedy about a middle-aged married couple who each pursue their lost dreams, and Unbowed, a low-budget courtroom drama based on a true story, have both broken the 3-million mark of viewers in less than a month of their release. According to data compiled by the Korean Film Council, Dancing Queen and Unbowed attracted 3.09 million and 3 million viewers, respectively, as of Saturday since their release on Jan. 18. (The Korea Times, February 12, 2012)
Drama Producer Son Committed Suicide Jan. 21
Hit drama maker Son Moon-kwon committed suicide last month, a local daily recently reported. Family members told the Sports Chosun that Son hung himself Jan. 21 from a staircase at his house in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. He was 40 years old. Son was married to famed script writer Im Seong-han, 52. (hancinema.net, February 13, 2012)
Shout! Factory Takes Korean Creature Feature Sector 7
Shout! Factory announced today a multi-year agreement with CJ E&M, the leading film distribution and production company in Korea, to be the exclusive North American home entertainment distributor for two widely popular Korean motion pictures, including the creature feature Sector 7. (Shock Till You Drop, February 14, 2012)
INTERVIEWS
Director Kim Joong-hyeon
Ahead of its international premiere in the Berlinale Forum, director Kim Joong-hyeon talks about his debut feature film Choked with Kim Seong-hoon. A low-budget film made at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), Kim Joong-hyeon’s Choked deals with economic troubles and the dissolution of the family in contemporary Korean society. The film made its world premiere in the Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents competition and is due for an international premiere in the Berlinale Forum section. (Korean Cinema Today, February 3, 2012)
Lee Na-young Faces Tough Challenge on New Movie
Actress Lee Na-young's latest film Howling, which will be released next Thursday, sees her take on the role of a rookie cop investigating a series of murders by a mysterious wolf-like creature. In this action-thriller, Lee flexes her muscles as a hard-nosed police detective and even rides a motorcycle. "This film had so many enticing factors. First of all, I wanted to play a part with many action scenes. Veteran actor Song Kang-ho was already cast, so I had an even stronger interest in it when I read the script," said Lee. (The Chosun Ilbo, February 11, 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.
The Korean Cinema Blogathon will be back for its much anticipated 2nd edition from March 5-11. This year the home base for the event will be last year's co-host cineAWESOME! while New Korean Cinema will be mirroring all of the links on its site.
In order to maximize the exposure of the already very popular Blogathon, a few sites have been brought in to the mix to act as hosts to all of the event's links. Modern Korean Cinema is very proud to count itself among this group, along with Hangul Celluloid, KOFFIA, and VCinema.
Last year's Blogathon was the reason that MKC really got going, so I'm extremely excited to see it roll around again especially as this edition promises to be even better than the first!
Make sure to drop in come March 5th and don't be shy about submitting your own review, top 10, or article, this is what the Korean Cinema Blogathon is all about! It's a fantastic way to share thoughts, discover great sites, and meet new people.
Check out the original press release after the jump for more information:
Following last years successful Korean Blogathon (thanks to everyone who joined us!) New Korean Cinema and cineAWESOME! will be hosting the event again this year from 5th to the 11th March.
What’s the Korean Blogathon?
It’s a way to try to encourage as many people – including YOU! – to share and discover opinions and ideas about Korean cinema. It’s open to anyone – wherever you are around the world and whichever language you speak.
For one week we try to encourage as many people as possible to get involved writing about Korean cinema. Anything you want. Over the course of the seven days this kicks up some really interesting posts – and, most importantly, people are able to read what you’ve written and discover films and ideas that they’ve never come across before, maybe learn a little about Korean film history, or maybe even discover websites and blogs they were previously unaware of.
Ideas for blog posts might include reviews, top tens, opinions on favorite directors / actors / genres, whatever you want – it just needs to be related to Korean cinema in some way. Last year we had fifty blogs participate, generating one hundred and fifty posts!
Check out the links for last years event here. This year the event will be hosted by cineAWESOME! and mirrored at New Korean Cinema.
All you need to do to join us is to write a post – or as many posts as you want over the seven days – on your blog or website during the week of 5th to the 11th of March then send an e-mail to [email protected] with your link to and we’ll post a link to you from the site. You can also post your own links on our Facebook page or we will do it for you, and we’ll Tweet links to your posts throughout the week: the Twitter tag for the week will be #koreablog.
If you want to use one of our ‘Korean Blogathon 2012’ banners they can be downloaded from here
This past weekend was another exceptionally strong frame for local films as combined they took nearly 80% of the market share, up from 50% a year ago. Total admissions came in at just over two million which was a 25% increase on last year's comparable weekend.
Once again leading the charge was Nameless Gangster which barely dropped from its gigantic opening to record a 828,585 weekend which already puts it within inches of the 2.5 million mark. While it will likely lose a significant amount of business next weekend it's already a big success and will surely cross a few more landmarks during its run.
Dancing Queen moved up to number 2 this weekend with 282,560 which represented a tiny 15% drop. It is now well over the three million mark and could cross four before finishing its impressive run. It's going quite steady for the moment and should still remain competitive throughout the rest of the month.
Unbowed dropped to number 3 with a 40% drop that left it with 256,866. It has now also crossed the three million admissions mark and could vie for the next milestone but this could prove to be a difficult obstacle to overcome. The film has had an extraordinary run but with so much else crowding the theaters interested does seem to have waned so it will probably begin to wind up its run shortly.
Foreign animation Legends of Valhalla: Thor opened with a decent 198,414 but is unlikely to stay this high on the chart for long. Considering how many children's films have opened recently this seems like a good start.
Tarbosaurus 3D lost about half its business this weekend as it garnered another 116,742 admissions but it has now crossed the one million mark. This seems like a decent total for this kind of a film but I have no idea how much it cost or what its break-even point may be. In any case it has been a difficult period for animation lately with so many crowding the marquee.
Papa dropped a spot to number 6 in its sophomore weekend as it halved its take to 107,868. Not an impressive run but with so many quality offerings on offer its easy to see why a film with a slight and slightly perplexing premise could get lost in the mix. One million admissions is probably not on the cards.
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace occupied the number 7 spot as it came out on rerelease with 59,278. At number 8 was Spielberg's new offering War Horse which sold 53,558 tickets. Meanwhile, the phenomenal Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy failed to attract many viewers as it attracted 44,042 viewers for number 9. Last Happy Feet 2 dropped like a stone after an abismal opening as it wound up with a paltry 35,368 admissions.
All eyes will be on the Ha Yu directed and Song Kang-ho starring Howling as it opens wide next weekend. Reviews have been excellent and anticipation is high but I wonder how the strong performance of the top three local films will affect its opening bow.
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.
A pair of reviews for the hotly anticipated thriller Howling this week which will be opening on the 16th in Korea. Many more reviews of past and current films also on offer from a wide range of sources.
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. 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.
Two new US openers filled out slots 8 and 9, and both wer unable to entice audiences. Woman in Black started its run with a tepid 65,640 while Nic Cage superhero sequel Ghost Rider 3D was D.O.A. with 53,741.
