Mark James Russell

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Month: April 2007 (Page 2 of 2)

Random Notes – Vol. 2, No. 6

April 11, 2007 / / 0 Comments
  • The Korea Times has an interesting little piece on Lee Chang-dong’s new film, SECRET SUNSHINE. Lee, of course, was the Minister of Culture and Tourism around 2003-4, and this is his first film since leaving government. Considering it stars both Song Gang-ho and Jeon Do-yeon, that is quite a comeback. Lee’s film opens on May 17 and I hope it does well.

    (Such an unflattering picture of Jeon, though. Is that some kind of new Korea Times policy to make women celebrities look hideous?

  • Those fun-loving Singaporeans have decided to ban the film ZAHARI’S 17 YEARS, about a journalist, Said Zahari, who was locked up for 17 years without a trial. They are demanding director Martyn See hand over the film. Idiots. I recommend everyone checking out the film (or at least what you can find on Youtube), just in principle.

    Of course, Korea has its own history of imprisoning dissidents. And of films about the subject, like REPATRIATION and THE ROAD TAKEN.

  • THE HOST is now up to $1.76 million at the US box office. Although it is showing signs of slowing down now (weekend revenues were off from the weekend before). The film has done surprisingly well in Spain, all things considered, with over $1 million since it was released March 2. Still waiting on the latest from China.
  • Just to keep that HOST stuff in perspective though, India has had SEVEN movies make over $2 million in the US market since the start of 2006. I had no idea until I read the latest by Nikki Finke.

    Certainly U.S. moviegoers can’t get enough of Bollywood movies. Last year was a record-breaker for Hindi films at the U.S. box office: of the 14 foreign language films that grossed over $2 mil here in 2006, seven have been in Hindi. Until then, no more than two Hindi films made over $2 mil here in the same year.

    Very impressive for the Hindi-language filmmakers (but why have not India’s other language films broken out yet?… Lots of good stuff being made outside of Bollywood).

    Also interesting in Ms Finke’s article was the part about how India is a popular place for Hollywood types to make movies these days. Interesting that Korea has not been able to entice any projects here.

    A couple of years ago, at a BIFCOM meeting, I remember talking to a location scout who had spent a few days traveling around the Korean countryside, but was unable to find anything that caught his eye. But I got the feeling from talking to him that he was looking for something more “exotic” than what you typically find these days. I never could decide how much of his comments reflected aesthetic problems in today’s Korea or his inability to see what Korea has to offer.

    • Korea Weekend Box Office – April 6-8

    April 10, 2007 / / 0 Comments

    To no one’s surprise, Song Gang-ho’s THE SHOW MUST GO ON made its debut in the top spot this week. It’s $3.2 million is not bad, but it might be hard for SHOW to maintain, given the torrent of new titles about to be released (not to mention the bittorrent). I really wanted to see this film until I saw the trailer. Now I am less motivated. Might wait for the DVD.

    Once again running neck-and-neck (er, neck-and-severed-neck) in Seoul is SMALL-TOWN RIVALS and 300. Nationwide, SMALL-TOWN RIVALS again did much better, and is on the verge of 1 million admissions.

    The big French action film SKY FIGHTERS (aka LES CHEVALIERS DU CIEL) finally made it to theaters in Korea. I suppose 34,000 admissions are not great numbers, but I remember the French film commission pushing that film hard at last year’s Hong Kong Filmart, so it was kind of interesting to see it finally make it to the theaters.

    This Week Title…………………………………. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance (Seoul only) Total Attendance
    1. The Show Must Go On 3.14 449 147,800 472,300
    2. Smalltown Rivals 3.29 315 63,000 944,000
    3. 300 3.14 220 62,100 2,708,800
    4. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer 3.22 229 41,400 880,300
    5. Because I Said So 3.29 140 37,900 114,700
    6. Black Book 3.29 118 12,000 150,000
    7. Le Chevaliers du Ciel 3.29 95 10,100 34,000
    8. The Number 23 3.22 113 8,600 423,000
    9. Beautiful Sunday 3.29 190 6,500 168,000
    10. Lyrics and Music 2.28 44 5,800 1,112,600

    (Source: Film2.0)

    Next week could be quite interesting, with the new Im Kwon-taek film, BEYOND THE YEARS, getting released, along with MEMORIES OF MATSUKO. Both films will most likely do mediocre business, but it is possible either could take off (or both, for that matter). A lot of women I know seem to be interested in MATSUKO, and you never know how the public will react to an Im Kwon-taek movie.

    Grind? House?

    April 9, 2007 / / 0 Comments

    I just confirmed that the Tarantino-Rodriguez team-up GRINDHOUSE will not be coming to Korea. But you will be able to see both of their films.

    Yes, Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF and Robert Rodriguez’s PLANET TERROR will be released as two separate films in Korea (as in all international markets, I think). DEATH PROOF is making its debut at Cannes this year, so international markets have been waiting for that before getting the film.

    Here in Korea, DEATH PROOF should be coming in July, followed by PLANET TERROR some time in August (this summer is so packed with big films that their distributor, Sponge House, is still selecting the best dates for each).

    Korea Weekend Box Office – March 30-April 1

    April 4, 2007 / / 0 Comments

    Sorry I am a little late with this week’s box office. The Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and about a hundred other things have me pretty busy these days. Write in to get a full refund if the delay in any way inconvenienced you.

    Anyhow, a fun race for the top spot this week. According to Film 2.0, 300 won for the third week in a row in Seoul, by just 100 admissions — 116,100 admissions to 116,000. That works out to about $782,278 for 300 and $781,600 for SMALLTOWN RIVALS.

    Nationwide, however, SMALLTOWN RIVALS won quite handily, besting 300 by nearly $1 million ($3.00 million vs. $2.18 million). Or 440,516 admissions to 317,538. (Remembering, as always, that the KOBIS nationwide stats amount to only about 93% of the total box office, so the real difference was probably even greater).

    So far in 2007, 300 is the third-biggest film of the year, having earned about $16 million, following VOICE OF A MURDERER and MIRACLE ON FIRST STREET (and it looks pretty certain that 300 will overtake MIRACLE in the next week).

    New films BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY and BLACK BOOK had modest openings. Nothing to write home about, though.

    This Week Title…………………………………. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance (Seoul only) Total Attendance
    1. 300 3.14 279 116,100 2,431,300
    2. Smalltown Rivals 3.29 325 116,000 530,000
    3. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer 3.22 231 71,400 664,300
    4. The Number 23 3.22 170 38,700 373,600
    5. Beautiful Sunday 3.29 215 29,800 105,700
    6. Black Book 3.29 134 26,400 81,300
    7. The Break-up 3.22 150 24,000 202,000
    8. Lyrics and Music 2.28 119 18,500 1,072,300
    9. Mug Travel 3.22 39 6,800 84,000
    10. Soo 3.22 231 6,300 206,000

    (Source: Film2.0)

    This week will see the opening of the new Song Gang-ho film THE SHOW MUST GO ON, which looks like it is going to get a massive rollout. The Megabox in my neighborhood is going to have three or four of its eight screens showing that movie. And it has been getting some decent reviews (although the trailers have been leaving me cold).

    Kim Ki-duk’s latest, BREATH, comes out in a couple more weeks. The press preview was last Friday, but I promised the production house I would not review it before the release date (apparently The Korea Herald did not get that memo). I do not want to ruin it for you but I will give one big spoiler here. BREATH features something never seen before in any Kim Ki-duk film — smiling.

    Not to keep yapping on about THE HOST, but its run in the United States seems to be going surprisingly well. In the 25 days since its release, THE HOST has now made $1.48 million, and it seems to be picking up steam. The number of screens showing the movie has gone up again, to 116 (it opened on 71, and climbed to 94 last week).

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