Category: Korean movies (Page 6 of 31)

So why didn’t anyone at Wild Side Films or Park Chan-wook’s company send me one of these?

Okay, this box office chart is a week late. Many apologies.

As you can see, TRANSFORMERS 2 is still king of the mountain here in Korea, although it is finally slowing down a little — “just” 900,000 admissions last weekend to bring its total to 6.6 million, or 44.63 billion won ($35.1 million). I do not think the new HARRY POTTER film is going to do very well in Korea (not in comparison to its North America numbers), but it should still be strong enough to send TRANSFORMERS 2 into second place.

The next three films were all Korean, so there is some robustness for local films, despite this being the middle of Hollywood’s best season.

And CHAW, the comic-horror film, was in 10th, despite not officially opening until the 16th.

And a fairly international crop this week, as we have the latest JUON (Japan) film in fifth, ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES (France) in sixth, and MISSING LYNX (Spain) in eighth. The Italian film THE UNKNOWN WOMAN was 12th, followed by France’s LET IT RAIN.

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

TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN continued its assault on the Korean box office (not to mention on eardrums, sanity, etc.), accounting for a huge 66 percent of all movie ticket sales last weekend. Michael Bay’s robot film pulled in another 9.86 billion won ($7.8 million) on the weekend to bring its total to 35.28 billion won ($27.8 million) — that is ahead of the opening of Bong Joon-ho’s THE HOST, depending on how you count these things.

The blockbuster has now had over 5.2 million admissions in 12 days, making it by far the biggest foreign opening ever in Korea. Could TRANSFORMERS 2 be the first foreign film to make it to 10 million admissions? Possibly. I do not see any huge films on the calendar for the next couple of weeks (HARRY POTTER on the 15th, then HAEUNDAE on the 23rd). Although traditionally Hollywood films do not sustain at the box office as well as Korean films do.

After TRANSFORMERS, the next three films on the chart were all Korean, so I guess that is kind of good news. RUNNING TURTLE continues to hold up, landing in No. 2 with 1.84 billion won to bring its total to 16.18 billion won ($12.7 million).

The uplifting tale of some scrappy women overcoming the odds to compete in an unpopular sport FOREVER THE MOMENT BRONZE MEDAL had to be a disappointment — despite a big advertising push and a big opening on over 500 screens, the weightlifting drama made just 1.78 billion won ($1.4 million) over the weekend (barely 251,000 admissions).

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

TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN had a huge opening last weekend, the biggest since at least PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3, and pretty close to Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 hit THE HOST (Goemul).

The loud, toy robot sequel pulled in 14.1 billion won ($10.9 million) over the weekend, and 19.7 billion won ($15.3 million) since it opened on Wednesday. That equates to 2.1 million admissions over the weekend and 3.0 million since Wednesday.

If it seemed like just about every screen in Korea was playing TRANSFORMERS 2, you were pretty much right — a record-shattering 1,038 screens. There are just 2,000 screens in all of Korea. (When I came to Korea, there were not even 500 screens in the entire country).

(Btw, the chart below says 1,200 screens for TRANSFORMERS, but remember the KOFIC list double-counts some screens, so tends to be a little exaggerated).

The real question will be staying power. Movies like PIRATES 3 and SPIDER-MAN 3 had openings nearly as big as THE HOST, but they ended up with much smaller totals. TRANSFORMERS (the first) by comparison had 1.3 million admissions in its opening weekend, but went on to pull in 7.4 million admissions, the best foreign film ever in Korea.

The only other movie that anyone went to see last weekend was RUNNING TURTLE (Geobuki Dallinda), which made 1.8 billion won ($1.4 million) to bring its three-week total to 13.0 billion won ($10.1 million). TURTLE is going to top 2 million admissions, making it officially a hit, I guess.

Everything else is sad. The No. 3 film BLOOD PLEDGE (Yeogyo Goedam 5) made just 499 million won ($387,000) over the weekend, bringing its total to 2.8 billion won. That’s just 59,000 admissions for it last weekend.

MISSING LYNX from Spain opened in fourth. The only other Korean film was Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER (Madeo), in sixth. MOTHER has now made 19.5 billion won — slightly less than what TRANSFORMERS 2 did in five days.

Rather amazing to me was that the 8th Mise-en-Scene Genre Film Festival landed in 10th. With just two screens. That’s pretty wild. The 11th place film, THE BROTHERS BLOOM, sold fewer tickets, despite being on 110 screens. Wow.

I just read that the great Korean director Yu Hyun-mok passed away Sunday night, at 85 years old (or 83, depending on what you read). Very sad news.

Yu was the last of the “three great filmmakers” of the 1950s and 1960s (the other two being Kim Ki-young and Shin Sang-ok). Yu was most famous for OBALTAN: THE AIMLESS BULLET, a neorealist film about the hard life of the downtrodden after the Korean War.

But for me, my favorite Yu film was EMPTY DREAM, a remake of Tetsuji Takeji’s DAYDREAM. Yu was arrested for EMPTY DREAM, even though the actress Park Su-jeong did not really appear naked (good summary at the link above). Anyhow, I saw EMPTY DREAM at the Puchon Fantastic Film Festival in 2004, when they played it with a restored soundtrack. Very interesting, surreal film, and completely different than OBALTAN.

Yu’s SCHOOL EXCURSION is pretty fun, too, and it used to be available on DVD (although I have not seen it in stores for ages… maybe the Yongsan black market still stocks it).

Sadly, I am no expert of Yu’s films. I only met him briefly a couple of times, when he was obviously of fading health, and I never really talked to him at all. But I am happy that I did at least meet him (and Shin Sang-ok). You can read about Yu in the Korea Times. Darcy’s page on Yu is here. And of course you can always read Wikipedia.

You can also briefly see Yu Hyun-mok in these old news videos from the 1960s, here, here, and here (that last one is from the 2nd Grand Bell Awards, back in 1963, with Yu winning Best Director for his film TO GIVE FREELY).

Another week at the top of the box office for RUNNING TURTLE (Geobuki Dallinda), which added another 3.9 billion won ($3.0 million) to its coffers, to bring its total revenue to 9.6 billion won ($7.5 million) since June 11. Not a runaway hit, but 1.4 million admissions is not bad.

The latest film in the Whispering Corridors horror series, A BLOOD PLEDGE, landed in No. 2, with 1.6 billion won ($1.25 million), or 1.8 billion won including Thursday.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2 was the top foreign film, earning 1.3 billion won to bring its total to 11.4 billion won ($8.9 million). TERMINATOR SALVATION added 1.1 billion won for a total of 29.0 billion won ($22.6 million).

Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER (Madeo) added 801 million won ($625,000) over the weekend to bring its total to 18.9 billion won ($14.8 million). With 2.8 million admissions thus far, MOTHER should make it over 3 million admissions, but it will be a lot closer than I originally thought.

There were no other Korean films in the top 10 last weekend, but we did have a Hong Kong film (THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT) in ninth and a French film (ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES) in 10th.

Btw, as I write this, two days before it opens TRANSFORMERS 2 is accounting for 89.7 percent of all ticket reservations. Yikes.

A new Korean film took the top spot at the box office last weekend, the crime thriller RUNNING TURTLE (Geobuki Dallinda) with 3.3 billion won ($2.6 million), or 3.7 billion won including Thursday and other previews.

Second went to NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2, with 2.7 billion won ($2.1 million) to bring its total to 9.6 billion won ($7.6 million).

TERMINATOR SALVATION continues to do strong business in Korea, coming in third with 1.7 billion won ($1.3 million), for an impressive 27.2 billion won ($21.6 million) since it was released May 21.

Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER (Madeo) also is doing well, with another 1.4 billion won ($1.1 million) to bring its total to 17.4 billion won ($13.8 million). Now with 2.6 million admissions, MOTHER looks like it will top 3 million admissions, but not make it to 4 million. Still, 3 million is a pretty solid number for a Korean film, so good for Bong.

Only one other Korean film in the top 10, MY GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT, way down in ninth. GIRLFRIEND added another 100 million won last weekend to bring its total to 26.1 billion won ($20.7 million) since April 22.

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE may not be a Korean film, but it did star Jun Ji-hyun. Unfortunately, Jun was not enough, and BLOOD opened to just 378 million won ($300,000).

(Courtesy of KOFIC)

A new week, a new No. 1 at the box office. This time it was NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2, with a healthy 5.4 billion won ($4.3 million) over the weekend, or 6.0 billion won ($4.7 million) including Thursday. The original NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM did quite well in Korea a couple of years ago, so the sequel’s success was not really a surprise.

Fighting it out for No. 2 was TERMINATOR SALVATION and Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER (Madeo). TERMINATOR edged out MOTHER in terms of admissions — 538,000 to 533,000 — but MOTHER was slightly stronger at the box office — 3.7 billion won ($2.9 million) to 3.6 billion won. But I like to rank the film’s by revenue, so let’s give the victory to MOTHER (unfortunately, KOFIC ranks by admissions, so the chart below does not reflect my opinion).

Since it was released May 21, TERMINATOR has made an impressive 24.6 billion won ($19.4 million) — that is 3.7 million admissions and the film will certainly top 4 million soon. Easily the most successful TERMINATOR film here in Korea.

Since MOTHER was released May 28, it has made 14.7 billion won ($11.6 million), or nearly 2.2 million admissions. I think it will make it to 3 million, which is not bad, especially considering the subject matter of the film.

Otherwise, not much exciting happening in the top-10. MY GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT (7 Geup Gongmuwon) is still doing business at No. 5, earning another 660 million won to bring its total to 25.8 billion won ($20.3 million). It has just topped 4 million admissions, but it will not make it to 5 million.

CASTAWAY ON THE MOON (Gimssi Pyoryugi) and THIRST (Bakjwi) are the two other Korean films on the chart, in seventh and eighth. But really, this is barely a top-10 list. Only the top eight films were on over 100 screens and only the five films had over 100,000 admissions over the weekend.

(Courtesy of KOFIC, of course)

Btw, CJ CGV’s monthly box office report came out a few days ago, and it was quite encouraging. Last month was the strongest May on record with 16.3 million admissions, way up from May 2008’s 12.8 million. But more importantly, Korean movies made up 49.1 percent of the box office, which was the strongest showing in year (maybe ever).

Usually Hollywood’s summer blockbusters start coming out in May and completely dominate Korea until July or August. Last year was the most extreme example, when Korean movies accounted for a humiliating 7.8 percent.

So far in 2009, Korea movies have 46.9 percent of the local box office.

Wow, it was really a two-film weekend, wasn’t it? Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER (Madeo) and TERMINATOR: SALVATION together accounted for a mammoth 1,400 screens or so (KOFIC tends to double-count a lot, so the screen numbers in the chart below are a little exaggerated, but they are still huge). Two films accounting for 70 percent of a nation’s screens? Really?

On the other hand, those two films accounted for well over 70 percent of the box office, so it is not like the theater owners aren’t being efficient and economical. Sometimes, one of the only things I find more bewildering than the lack of consumer choice in Korea is the lack of demand for choices.

Anyhow, MOTHER (Madeo) opened in No. 1 last weekend, to no one’s surprise. Nearly 6.7 billion won ($5.4 million) over the weekend, or 8.1 billion won ($6.5 million) including Thursday. That’s over 1.2 million tickets sold in just four days. Not bad at all, especially for such a simpler film than Bong’s THE HOST (Goemul). MOTHER may not be epic, but it is totally worth watching. Go see it soon.

The biggest surprise for me was the continuing strength of TERMINATOR 4. I thought it would have plunged like a stone after its opening weekend. But instead it held on for another 5.2 billion won ($4.2 million), bringing its total to 19.3 billion won ($15.4 million). Over 3 million tickets in just 11 days. Proportionately, it is doing so much better here than in the United States. Strange.

After those two films, you get a huge dropoff. ANGELS & DEMONS was in third, with just 1.1 billion won, for a total of 10.8 billion won.

MY GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT (7-Geup Gongmuwon) continues to hold on, earning another 909 million won to bring its total to 24.7 billion won ($19.8 million).

Korean films also accounted for the sixth spot (CASTAWAY ON THE MOON), ninth (THIRST) and 10th (BOAT). Half the films in the top 10 Korean during Hollywood’s high season? Not bad at all.

Oh, and Hong Sang-soo’s LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL (Jal Aljido Mot Hamyeonseo) was down in 14th, in case you wanted to know. Not huge business, but at least it broke 200 million won.

(Source: KOFIC)