KCN: Jiseul Triumphs while CinDi Bites the Dust (01/24-01/30, 2013)

It's been a little over a month since the weekly Korean Cinema News has appeared on MKC. Apologies for not getting back to it sooner. Work has become a little trickier and I'm still trying to strike the right balance between my personal and work projects.

I've decided to shake things up a little with KCN and try something new. Researching news and then putting them together in an article that is little more than glorified formatting is not the most exciting way to deliver the news (for you as well as myself I imagine). What I will try to do is to sum up what has happened on a weekly basis, give a few of my opinions as well as a couple of links to particularly good articles if there are any. Let's see how it goes, feedback is welcome!

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

This past week came with both good and bad news for the industry. As you may already be aware, O Muel's Jeju Massacre film Jiseul, which premiered at last October's Busan International Film Festival, has been awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition of the Sundance Film Festival. It's the first time that a Korean film has won an award in Park City and the news concludes a particularly successful week for Korean filmmakers at the event following the positive reception of Park Chan-wook's US debut Stoker.

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Miracle in Cell No.7 (7번방의 선물, 7beonbangeui seonmool) 2013

The Korean film industry has many great supporting players but perhaps none more so than the versatile Ryoo Seung-ryong. The dependable and chameleonic performer has been active for many years, however, 2012 was by far and away his biggest. He was excellent as the King’s right-hand man in Masquerade and he shined as the Cassanova-esque next door neighbor in All About My Wife. So popular was his performance as the middle-aged lothario that he has reprised the character for a number of local advertisements (like this one), which I must say I have enjoyed quite a lot. Following all the attention he’s been getting, it’s about time he got his own vehicle, and that’s just what’s happened, or almost. Ryoo takes center stage for the first time in his new film Miracle in Cell No.7.

Yong-gu, a grown man with the mental capacity of a six-year old, is a loving father to Yesung who is falsely accused of killing a young girl. He finds himself in jail where more than anything he misses his daughter. As his cellmates gradually warm towards him, they concoct a scheme to bring his daughter into the prison under the nose of the watchful warden.

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MKC Thought Leaders' Corner: January 2013

Welcome to the first MKC Thought Leaders' Corner! We are thrilled to present this new feature where every month we will ask the top experts on Korean cinema a pressing question regarding the Korean film industry.

Without further ado, here is this month's question:

Given the enormous success of Korean cinema in 2012, is there any cause for concern over a rise in streamlined productions as quality gives way to financial interests?

Many to thanks to all the contributors for their time and insightful comments. Responses listed alphabetically, followed by the thoughts of MKC's teammembers.

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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

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New Korean Films: Pororo Is Back (2013 Week 4)

(by Fabien Schneider)

While last week we had two completely different visions of sexuality and extramarital affairs, this week seems rather to adopt the theme of mental disability, and once more with a production for general audiences on one hand and an independent film on the other. The Korean animation is also set to disrupt the schoolyards, since it is none other Pororo, the president of children, who celebrates his 10th birthday.

Pororo, The Racing Adventure (뽀로로 극장판 슈퍼썰매 대모험) 

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Padak (파닥파닥, Padak Padak) 2012

(by Rex Baylon)

Although the United States and Japan have a far more illustrious history when it comes to producing animated features, South Korea has been the industry’s worst kept secret for many decades. At first, merely an outsource center for foreign filmmakers who needed a platoon of talented but cheap inkers and illustrators, this long overshadowed country has in the past few years emerged as a real contender within the animation field. And even though Korea hasn’t produced an animation studio with a ready-made and recognizable style like Pixar in America or Ghibli in Japan this situation has allowed many young animators to forge ahead and create their own unique works, regardless of global economic interests.

In 2011 alone, Yeun Sang-ho’s bleak revenge drama King of Pigs and popular children’s picture Leafie, A Hen into the Wild were released and both attained a level of unexpected success. The former as a searing indictment of school bullying became a critical darling on the festival circuit while the latter became South Korea’s most financially successful animated feature, raking in 2.2 million ticket sales. Unlike the American and Japanese markets that produce content to be exported and exploited by foreign interests these two films were created primarily for Korean audiences with no real expectations that they could travel outside their country of origin. And though a lot of the domestic output by Korean animators is influenced a great deal by the West and Japan their work does have an indelible personal stamp to it. Thus the quality of the animation being released is not only equal to those produced in America or Asia but the films themselves are still inarguably Korean.

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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

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