Korean Cinema News (05/17-05/23, 2012)

Some sales in Cannes this week but not too much else to report though there are some great interviews and a new trailer for incoming summer zombie feature Deranged.  Next week should yield some more Cannes news and hopefully a Korean film will pick up a prize though at this point I don't think they'll get anything in the main competition unless The Taste of Money suddenly received a better welcome than in Korea where it opened last week.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Korean Movies Sell at Cannes
A number of high-profile pics have sold at Cannes, including the hotly anticipated The Thieves which was bought by firms in China, Hong Kong and Thailand.  The year's biggest local hit to date, Nameless Gangster, also secured distribution in some territories such as Japan, China and Hong Kong in Asia as well as Eastern Europe, Spain and the French-speaking portion of Europe.  So Ji-sub's hitman film A Company Man, which is scheduled to open next month, was sold to Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and French and German-speaking Europe.  The Scent was also taken by a few Asian markets, including Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore.  Lastly, Love On-Air, the first wide Korean release of 2012, was sold to Thailand.  (Modern Korean Cinema, May 23, 2012)

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Korean Box Office Update (05/18-05/20, 2012)

All About My Wife Takes First Place in Close Finish

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	All About My Wife	5/17/12	28.70%	593,341	778,430	561
2	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	28.70%	564,923	6,341,504	573
3	The Taste of Money	5/17/12	21.80%	444,859	568,327	641
4	As One	5/3/12	9.00%	200,091	1,619,089	387
5	Dark Shadows (us)	5/10/12	3.10%	66,722	549,733	270
6	Cold Light of Day (us)	5/17/12	2.20%	49,217	61,552	238
7	Mirror Mirror (us)	5/3/12	1.80%	40,355	557,229	164
8	Architecture 101	3/22/12	1.10%	23,916	4,078,012	124
9	The Lorax (us)	5/3/12	1.00%	23,262	290,162	134
10	A Muse	4/25/12	1.10%	22,065	1,319,085	160

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Weekly Review Round-up (05/12-05/18, 2012)

A lot of reviews this week and many of them for a trio of action/war film which are currently making the rounds in North America, either in theatres or on the home video market.  I'm thrilled to see such interest in these titles but the fact that they all stem from the same genre doesn't really give me high hopes for expanding English-language consumers interest in the broader Korean film industry.  THese titles just confirm that Korean cinema, at present, is still viewed as a niche genre industry abroad, which couldn't be further from the truth.  Sigh...

Also from now on you may notice a few more Twitch reviews as I have been taken on as their Korean correspondent.

Enjoy!

FUTURE FILMS

Dangerously Excited

(Twitch, May 12, 2012)

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Korean Cinema News (05/10-05/16, 2012)

Not a huge news week, the main item being that Snow Piercer is finally underway but some interesting features and tidbits nonetheless, including and a couple of trailers with English subtitles.

In other news I have become the Twitchfilm's Korea correspondent, a position I'm thrilled to take on but no need to worry as nothing will change regarding the day-to-day running of MKC.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Production Begins on Bong Joon-ho's Snow Piercer
Likely the most anticipated project on the horizon from a Korean cineaste, Bong Joon-ho's Snow Piercer has finally begun production, having first been floated as a project back in 2007.  New additions to the cast have been made, which now features Song Kang-ho, Ko Ah-sung, Ewen Bremner, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Kenny Doughty and Emma Levie.

Some location photography on a glacier in Austria has already wrapped and no they are underway with the main segment of filming which is happening at the Barrandov studios in Prague, Czech Republic.  It's wonderful to see this exciting project finally coming to life and hopefully the production will be smooth sailing from here on in.  (Modern Korean Cinema, May 16, 2012)

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Unbowed (부러진 화살, Bureojin Hwasal) 2012

In June of this year, two Korean actors will be feted at the famed Grauman’s Chinese theatre on Hollywood Blvd., where they will have their hand and footprints cast in the pavement; the first Asian performers to be honoured in such a way. One is Lee Byung-hyun who, rather than being one of the nation’s best or most long-standing thespians, is the one with the highest international profile. He is making a name for himself in the US industry and will soon be seen in G.I. Joe 2 and then the sequel to Red (2011). In fact, the former will be opening mere days following the aforementioned ceremony so his selection does smack of opportunism.

However, the second star has all the hallmarks of greatness that such a distinction would indicate, and then some. Ahn Sung-ki is a legend in the Korean film industry and is probably its most respected star. One of his earliest roles was in Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid (1960) and he starred in a series of classics starting in the 1980s, such as A Fine, Windy Day (1980), Im Kwon-taek’s Mandala (1981), Whale Hunting (1984), Park Kwang-su’s Chilsu and Mansu (1988), The Taebaeck Mountains (1994, also Im Kwon-taek), Lee Myeong-se’s Nowhere to Hide (1999) and many, many more. Even now he is still one of the country’s top working actors and earlier this year he proved that he could still draw in the crowds just as well as anybody. He has won the Grand Bell Award (the Korean Oscar equivalent) no less than six times but he seems almost certain to pick up his seventh accolade later this year for his latest performance.

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Korean Box Office Update (05/11-05/13, 2012)

The Avengers Easily Threepeats

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	47.80%	994,319	5,446,891	734
2	As One	5/3/12	16.90%	393,323	1,227,411	512
3	Dark Shadows (us)	5/10/12	13.80%	314,355	372,745	386
4	Snow White (us)	5/3/12	5.00%	123,381	477,859	305
5	Eungyo	4/25/12	4.50%	99,840	1,226,704	310
6	All About My Wife	5/17/12	4.20%	91,426	96,751	277
7	Architecture 101	3/22/12	2.90%	67,365	4,007,674	244
8	The Lorax (us)	5/3/12	1.80%	46,562	261,893	240
9	Crayon Shin-chan (jp)	4/26/12	1.00%	26,667	259,718	130
10	The Scent	4/11/12	0.40%	10,214	1,234,209	70

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Weekly Review Round-up (05/05-05/11, 2012)

Many reviews for a wide variety of films this week and I've rejigged the subsections to reflect films that have already been released in Korea and those that have played at international festivals but have, as of yet, not secured a Korean release date.

Over on the VCinema Show website, which I am a contributor for, Adam Hartzell has embarked on a week-long consideration of Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives as he posts his thoughts after seeing it every day during its week long engagement in San Francisco.  Below are the links to his special feature with only the final day outstanding, which will likely be posted this evening:

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