Korean Box Office Report - February 10/12

It was 1993, the year when Im Kwon-Taek's 서편제 (Sopyonje) started its legendary run, to usher in the era of the 'Million seller' films in Chungmuro. Yet, for someone who seemed to be destined to remain an eternal (yet memorable) supporting actor, the other big hit of the year was much more important. The comedy 투캅스 (Two Cops) might have been Kang Woo-Suk's calling card to fame, thanks to Park Joong-Hoon and Ahn Sung-Gi's star power, but it was also the start of a talented actor's career, albeit for a few seconds. Playing the cop who salutes Park Joong-Hoon on his way to the station, Kim Soo-Ro started a journey which, 13 years later, would finally bring him to leading roles. He's done them all: a quick-tempered Chinese food delivery man in 주유소 습격사건 (Attack The Gas Station), a formidable technical wrestler in 반칙왕 (The Foul King), a smarmy high school jjang in 화산고 (Volcano High); he camouflaged himself as legendary rocker Seo Taiji not to reveal he was a terrorist, in the parody 재밌는 영화 (Fun Movie), and even an unlikely father in Min Gyu-Dong's glorious 'Magnolia without frogs', last year's 내 생애 가장 아름다운 일주일 (All For Love). But none of those were leading roles. Their importance kept increasing though, as people started noticing he wasn't just a funny face, and eventually he got his chance to shine with a solo leading role.

Stories of popular character actors failing on their solo leading projects are numerous, from Park Sang-Myun to Jung Woong-In and many others. But some of them made it, like a certain Song Kang-Ho, who after a succession of rapid-fire cult roles in black comedies -- 넘버 3 (No. 3) and 조용한 가족 (The Quiet Family) -- and blockbusters -- 쉬리 (Shiri) -- hit the jackpot in 2000 with two films, Park Chan-Wook's 공동경비구역 JSA (Joint Security Area) and Kim Jee-woon's 반칙왕 (The Foul King). Kim's career path is quite similar to Song's, both theater trained and taking every possible chance to shine even with the smallest of roles, and of course both masters of ad-lib and comic timing. But when it comes to films essentially wrapped around your image, then things start to get a little complicated. While it had a strong cast of talented folks, including Oh Gwang-Rok and Son Byung-Ho, Lee Si-Myung's 흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) wasn't exactly a shoe in as most promising box office hit of the month, what with the monster success of Lee Joon-Ik's 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown), the 5 Million + of hit comedy 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher), and potentially strong competition from Spielberg's latest project Munich.

But in another, pleasant surprise, the 'vampire superhero action comedy' beat them all, landing at No. 1 this week. Triumph of acting over pretty faces and stars who can't venture out of their fixed images? I don't know, but there's been a trend investing the industry in recent months: producers are starting to realize the potential of talented supporting actors, offering them leading roles. This was unthinkable just a half decade ago, when most films would live and die by their cast. Things haven't changed THAT much (i.e. Im Kwon-Taek's latest project and its casting/investment controversy), but casting known faces who can act is much more convenient than banking everything on a pretty star with a huge guarantee, hoping her or his popularity will overcome all the manipulative tactics used to fully milk the cash cow. With most bulky, oversized and overblown blockbusters flopping at the box office, Chungmuro has realized they can do without huge stars and huge budgets. Shin Yi and Choi Sung-Guk, mainstays of the comedy genre (Shin Yi seemed to be in EVERY single comedy last year, even if only for a few minutes) have been given the lead roles for the upcoming 구세주 (Oh! My God); Sung Ji-Roo, super talented and outrageously underrated, will make his debut as a lead in decades of acting, in the well received 손님은 왕이다 (The Customer is Always Right). Hell, most shocking of them all, veteran Choi Su-Bong, the Korean Takenaka Naoto, will star as a lead in 무도리 (Mudori), so it's pretty clear something's changing in Korean Cinema, and at a pretty impressive rate. Next thing you know, even Gi Ju-Bong will get a leading role...

Fans of the industry should feel relieved that all this success which hit Chungmuro since last Summer hasn't gotten to producers' heads, as many upcoming projects work on low-to-mid sized budgets. But of course this trend could cause a side effect, that of reverting to the 2002 post-blockbuster bubble situation, when few investors were willing to risk on something other than safe gangster comedies with big stars, or projects by acclaimed directors. Lee Si-Myung's second film after 2002's 2009 로스트 메모리즈 (2009 Lost Memories) took advantage of Showbox's predictably aggressive marketing, with a release of over 300 screens nationwide, and sold almost 150,000 tickets in Seoul over the weekend, for a nationwide total of nearly 600,000. Add paid advanced screenings to the figure, and the film sold around 750,000 in just three days. This is pretty impressive, and even though the film wasn't received too warmly (Although some critics are unfavorably comparing this to Hollywood superhero blockbusters like Batman. Of course I haven't seen the film, but something tells me they're wildly off the mark), Kim Soo-Ro's star power should allow for smooth sailing, at least for a couple of weeks. Lots of strong competition, including next week's 구세주 (Oh! My God), but I'm betting on a box office run around the 2-2.5 Million, quite good for Kim's first solo lead, and this will surely raise Director Lee's profile, after hitting jackpot twice in a row.

But of course the biggest news of the week was about a little film called 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown). It seems Lee Joon-Ik and co. will make us wait quite a bit to get our hands on the DVD (rumoured to be a super-duper edition, but set for late Summer, alas). And why would they do that, you may ask? Because this thing is as hot as it gets. We reported about the film breaking the 10 Million barrier a few days ago, and that was enough to make it the third most successful domestic film of all time, but the run continues. The film is now enjoying a release of 60 screens in the capital, 285 nationwide, and sold 133,000 tickets over the weekend in Seoul, for a nationwide total of close to 500,000. We're now getting even closer to 실미도 (Silmido)'s 11 odd Million tickets, which the film could likely beat in a week-ten days (considering Valentine's Day, and school vacation). All this in a mere 7 weeks. Now a few figures: a recent report about the film's success by the Bank of Korea compared the financial impact of the film to that of creating 1,800 new jobs, selling around 3,000 Hyundai Sonata (the average Sonata costs around 18 Million Won), or in simple figures we can understand, a gain of a little over 135 Billion Won (the film itself making 59.4 Billion Won in profit). Man... that'd almost pay for Shim Hyung-Rae's 디워 (D-War), leave or take a few monsters.

Another film laughing all the way to the bank is the gangster comedy 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher), a sequel of 2001's 두사부일체 (My Boss, My Hero). Critics wildly panned it, but it's still doing great, becoming the most successful Korean comedy of all time this week -- beating another gangster comedy, also a sequel, last year's 가문의 위기 (Marrying The Mafia 2). The film sold 60,000 tickets in Seoul, over 200,000 nationwide for a total of 5.75 Million, and although by now its run has slowed down considerably, its 240 screens should be enough to reach the 6 Million next week. Of course the success of this film can only mean Jung and co. will come back for a third installment next year or later, something which sounds a little less enticing than the third chapter of the 'Mafia' saga.

It was sour grapes instead for Spielberg's latest work, the controversial Munich. Certainly didn't do that bad, as 300,000 tickets is quite good for a Hollywood film without huge push (LOTR, King Kong, War of the Worlds types), but still disappointing considering the director's influence. Similar situation for Kim Tae-Gyun's new melodrama 백만장자의 첫사랑 (The Millionaire's First Love), which had a decent opening at around 300,000 tickets nationwide, but should get a huge push tomorrow with Valentine's Day, as it seems like the perfect date movie (then whether it's good or not, that's another story). 홀리데이 (Holiday) is about to conclude its run, a quite respectable 1.3 Million one, but one wonders how much the CGV CJ controversy affected the film's chances of success (it was only a matter of a few dozen screens, still...). Next week will see the release of the long awaited (?) comedy 구세주 (Oh! My God), starring Shin Yi and Choi Sung-Guk. Reviews were predictably negative, but it should have a decent opening, although I don't think it showed enough legs to last. Maybe a 1.5 Million run, or something in between.

Box Office Top 10 - February 10/12

1.
흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky)
2006 KOREA - dir. Lee Si-Myung [Cast: Kim Soo-Ro, Son Byung-Ho]
Distributed By Showbox - 23.1% (New) Share - 2,231 Per Screen Avg. - 314 Screens (New)
750,049 Tickets Sold Nationwide

2.
왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown)
2005 KOREA - dir. Lee Joon-Ik [Cast: Gam Woo-Sung, Jung Jin-Young]
Distributed By Cinema Service - 21.2% (-11.9%) Share - 2,218 Per Screen Avg. - 285 Screens (-114)
10,266,199 Tickets Sold Nationwide

3.
Munich
2005 USA - dir. Steven Spielberg [Cast: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - 15.1% (New) Share - 2,065 Per Screen Avg. - 180 Screens (New)
326,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

4.
투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher)
2006 KOREA - dir. Kim Dong-Won [Cast: Jung Joon-Ho, Kim Sang-Joong]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - 9.5% (-21.4%) Share - 1,333 Per Screen Avg. - 241 Screens (-240)
5,747,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

5.
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 USA - dir. Rob Marshall [Cast: Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li]
Distributed By Sony Pictures - 9.4% Share - 1,206 Per Screen Avg. - 49 Screens
743,759 Tickets Sold Nationwide

6.
백만장자의 첫사랑 (The Millionaire's First Love)
2006 KOREA - dir. Kim Tae-Gyun [Cast: Hyun Bin, Lee Yeon-Hee]
Distributed By Lotte Entertainment - 9.3% (New) Share - 1,108 Per Screen Avg. - 261 Screens (New)
301,627 Tickets Sold Nationwide

7.
あらしのよるに (Stormy Night)
2005 JAPAN - dir. Sugii Gisaburo [Voices: Takeuchi Riki, Narimiya Hiroki]
Distributed By MK Pictures - 3.0% (New) Share - 797 Per Screen Avg. - 94 Screens (New)
75,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

8.
홀리데이 (Holiday)
2006 KOREA - dir. Yang Yoon-Ho [Cast: Choi Min-Soo, Lee Sung-Jae]
Distributed By Lotte Entertainment - 2.3% (-6%) Share - 968 Per Screen Avg. - 92 Screens (-126)
1,346,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

9.
Nanny McPhee
2005 USA - dir. Kirk Jones [Cast: Emma Thompson, Colin Firth]
Distributed By UIP - 1.8% Share - 676 Per Screen Avg. - 66 Screens
220,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

10.
사랑을 놓치다 (Lost in Love)
2006 KOREA - dir. Chu Chang-Min [Cast: Seol Kyung-Gu, Song Yoon-Ah]
Distributed By Cinema Service - 0.9% (-5.2%) Share - 446 Per Screen Avg. - 24 Screens (-162)
470,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
썬데이 서울 (Ssunday Seoul)
2006 KOREA - dir. Park Sung-Hoon [Cast: Bong Tae-Gyu, Lee Cheong-Ah]
Distributed By Cinema Service - 110 Screens
33,149 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
달려라, 장미 (Way To Go, Rose)
2006 KOREA - dir. Kim Eung-Soo [Cast: Choi Ya-Bin, Kim Tae-Hoon]
Distributed By Emotion Pictures - 1 Screen
126 Tickets Sold Nationwide

2006 Box Office Top 10 (Korean Films)

01. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 5,747,000
02. 홀리데이 (Holiday) - 1,346,000
03. 싸움의 기술 (The Art of Fighting) - 1,273,000
04. 야수 (Running Wild) - 1,013,678
05. 흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) - 750,049
06. 사랑을 놓치다 (Lost in Love) - 470,000
07. 백만장자의 첫사랑 (The Millionaire's First Love) - 301,627
08. 썬데이 서울 (Sunday Seoul) - 33,149
09. 다섯개의 시선 (If You Were Me 2) - 4,500
10. 달려라, 장미 (Way To Go, Rose) - 126

All Time Box Office Top 20 (Korean Films)

01. 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) - 11,746,135 [2004]
02. 실미도 (Silmido) - 11,108,000 [2003]
03. 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) - 10,266,199 [2005]
04. 친구 (Friend) - 8,180,000 [2001]
05. 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) - 8,002,594 [2005]
06. 쉬리 (Shiri) - 6,210,000 [1999]
07. 공동경비구역 JSA (Joint Security Area) - 5,830,000 [2000]
08. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 5,747,000 [2006]
09. 가문의 위기 (Marrying The Mafia 2) - 5,663,000 [2005]
10. 조폭 마누라 (My Wife is a Gangster) - 5,250,000 [2001]
11. 가문의 영광 (Marrying the Mafia) - 5,200,001 [2002]
12. 말아톤 (Marathon) - 5,148,022 [2005]
13. 살인의 추억 (Memories of Murder) - 5,120,000 [2003]
14. 엽기적인 그녀 (My Sassy Girl) - 4,841,500 [2001]
15. 동갑내기 과외하기 (My Tutor Friend) - 4,810,000 [2003]
16. 신라의 달밤 (Kick The Moon) - 4,353,800 [2001]
17. 태풍 (Typhoon) - 4,180,000 [2005]
18. 집으로 (The Way Home) - 4,091,000 [2002]
19. 색즉시공 (Sex is Zero) - 4,089,900 [2002]
20. 공공의 적 2 (Another Public Enemy) - 3,911,356 [2005]

[Sources: Film2.0, Yonhap News 1, Yonhap News 2, nKino, Star News, Yahoo Korea]