Like binary stars rotating endless around each other in the vastness of space, so too do Darcy Paquet and I once again revolve around each other in universe of Korean movies.* Or, to be less oblique, Rob Boylan of the Orlando Weekly quotes Darcy and me in his article about the Korean film industry.

Not a bad introduction to Korean movies at all, certainly not the kind of thing you typically see in a US weekly newspaper. The story apparently made the cover of the publication, too. Thanks to Rob for turning the spotlight on Korean movies in a part of the world that probably does not think about such things too often. And thanks for plugging POP GOES KOREA in the article.

The peg for the article is the release of yet another remake of an Asian horror film in Hollywood. This time TALE OF TWO SISTERS gets the remake treatment, turning into THE UNINVITED. Not enough reviews of the film to have a rating on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic yet, but so far the early word seems pretty decent (not great, but not bad). I will probably check it out when it comes to Korea.

But why on earth was this movie called THE UNINVITED? That was the English title of the Jeon Ji-hyun horror film SA INYONG SHIKTAEK. Sure there have been plenty of other films and things called Uninvited before, but it seems quite odd to use the title from one Korean horror film to remake another Korean horror film.

*(Okay, it was either a binary star analogy or a reference to the USS Enterprise and Reliant chasing each other around Regula I, but that metaphor seemed a little loaded… Either way, I’m a dork).

John Woo’s RED CLIFF 2 became the first foreign film to top the box office this year, taking in $2.1 million over the weekend, or about 590,000 admissions since opening on Thursday. While that seems okay, those numbers are down a bit from the first RED CLIFF, which had about 800,000 admissions over its opening.

Looks like Tom Cruise’s PR blitz in Korea paid off, as his VALKYRIE opened in second, with 2.6 billion won ($2.0 million).

Nos. 3-5 all went to Korean films, led by the new movie CITY OF DAMNATION (nice English title), the Korean comic version of INFERNAL AFFAIRS. In fourth was the big hit of season, SCANDAL MAKERS, which was now made 44 billion won (about $32 million), followed by A FROZEN FLOWER, which is now at 23 billion won ($17 million).

Oh, in case you were wondering, SCANDAL MAKERS is now the most successful comedy in Korean history, having overtaken 200 POUND BEAUTY. Looks like SCANDAL is going to become the first Korean comedy to top 7 million admissions, too.

The only other Korean film was way down in 10th, the little film MY OLD PARTNER, about a man and his ox.

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

With foreign films occupying the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, Korean movies are now accounting for about 48 percent of the box office in 2009 — down a bit from last week, but much stronger than most people would have predicted a couple of months ago.

Kim Jee-woon’s THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD emerged the frontrunner in this year’s Asia Film Awards, leading the pack with eight nominations.

The Asian Film Awards (now in their third year) open the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong, held each March and April, alongside the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Hong Kong and Asia Film Financing Forum and the Hong Kong Filmart.

South Korea had two nominations for best actor (Song Kang-ho from THE GOOD and Ha Jung-woo from THE CHASER, but no one nominated for best actress (not so surprisingly, and sadly).

In addition to all the nominations for THE CHASER and TGTBTW, the other Korean nominees were Kim Ji-yeong for best supporting actress for FOREVER THE MOMENT and best newcomer to So Ji-sub for ROUGH CUT.

This week’s top-10 is nearly the same as last week’s. In fact, the only new film this week — the anime BEYBLADE — made its debut way down in 10th.

Also just like last week, the only two Korean films in the top-10 happened to occupy the top two spots. SCANDAL MAKERS did the best by attendance, but A FROZEN FLOWER made slightly more money, due to its 18-rating that kept out students (and their lower admission prices). A FROZEN FLOWER now has pulled in well over 3 million admissions, or 21 billion won ($16 million).

Close behind, SCANDAL MAKERS made 2.48 billion won last weekend ($1.8 million) to bring its total to 41.91 billion won ($31 million). Pretty impressive… and it is still going strong.

No other films did anything too notable last weekend. BE KIND, REWIND came in 12th, and is now up to 35,000 admission and $180,000. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN was way down in 26th, but at least the Swedish vampire film has made about $430,000 (not bad, as Swedish vampire films go).

With the Seollal lunar new year holiday films opening this week, expect to see some big changes to the box office next weekend. (Yes, I know I said that last week… apparently I am not so good at reading calendars).

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

Sorry for being late in posting this, but it appears that Lotte Cinemas is showing the big hit of the season, SCANDAL MAKERS (aka Gwasok Seukaendeul), with English subtitles at several of its locations around Korea.

You can catch SCANDAL MAKERS with English subtitles at the Lotte Cinema theaters in Myeongdong, Busan and Ansan. Each location appears to be showing the film with subtitles throughout the day, so you have plenty of chances to see it.

SCANDAL MAKERS now has over 6 million admissions, making it a solid hit. In fact, it is probably around 6.2 million by now, which would make it the 12th biggest Korean film ever.

Next in line is 200 POUND BEAUTY, which had 6.6 million admissions back in 2006. If SCANDAL MAKERS can top 200 POUND, it would become the biggest comedy ever in Korea (assuming one does not include D-WAR).

Not a big surprise, but it looks like that once again Korea will be going Oscarless this year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nine films that have made it to the next round of voting for the Best Foreign Language Film category, and Korea is nowhere to be found.

To make matters worse, a Japanese film did make it (Yojiro Takita’s DEPARTURES).

Korea this year was pushing CROSSING, a weep-fest about the plight of North Korean defectors, and the trials they face trying to escape. A worthwhile topic, to be sure, but CROSSING was not a very good film. Heavy-handed and shallow. Rumor has it that the Korea Film Council’s latest boss, Kang Han-sup, a Lee Myung-bak appointee, was pushing CROSSING hard, as part of his reforms to the Council.

Oh well, maybe next year.

No Korean film has ever been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Although I would argue the Oscars are so silly and irrelevant, this is hardly an “honor” they should worry about. The list of great films that were never even nominated is long (City of God), as is the list of poor films that won.

Jan. 22, that list of nine films will be further winnowed down to the five final nominees.