Korean Box Office Report - April 7/9

Posted by X at 5:59am.

Posted in Box Office News, Asia.

He never had a serious relationship, so anyone nice would have been fine. But then he (Park Yong-Woo) meets her (Choi Kang-Hee). Oh… she’s nice, and really pretty too. But there’s a little problem, a little bloody secret she’s hiding, which will make their relationship a little different from what he expected. Last week I did expect 달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl) to do well, but seeing it on top of this week’s box office puts a smile on my face. Why? This might be the future of Chungmuro: low budget (1.9 Billion Won) high concept films (sometimes shot in HD, like this one) focusing on acting talent over pretty faces or Korean wave bait, and a winning idea as the focus of the film. And the fact it’s (very) low budget makes its leading this week box office all the more positive, as the film will reach break even by today, to probably make a pretty decent profit by next week.

The film marks the leading debut of Park Yong-Woo—who’s been rising the ranks in Chungmuro since his excellent supporting performance in last year’s 혈의 누 (Blood Rain)—and Choi Kang-Hee’s return to films after a bit of MCing on the radio and TV. Its success wasn’t entirely surprising, as it had been creating buzz online ever since the release of its parody posters—the victims? Films like 달콤한 인생 (A Bittersweet Life), 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) and more—but it’s nice to see the audience flock to the theaters when the idea (in this case, mixing romcom and thriller tropes) is good.

Distributed by CJ Entertainment, the film raced at the top spot in pre-order sales last week, and thanks to its good (but still much lower than most Korean hits) release of over 280 screens it sold over 130,000 tickets over the weekend in the capital, for a nationwide total of over 500,000, which is an excellent result for a little film like this. The film shouldn’t have too many problems reaching the Million (screen average is over 2,000), but it’s safe to say its makers will look at any improvement without pressure, as they’ll be already past the break even point. This is the 17th consecutive week a Korean film has been on top of the nationwide charts, which shows who rules the roost in the market despite all the screen quota shenanigans. The success of films like this only means one thing: we’re getting more of them in the future. They’re relatively cheaper, there’s no need to worry about actors screwing up (as they were picked for their talent and not for potential Korean wave profitability), and are shot rather quickly. And before anyone brings up the variety issue, no need to worry: Park Chan-Wook’s 사이보그지만 괜찮아 (I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok) and Ryu Seung-Wan’s 짝패 (The City of Violence) are part of this drive to focus more on concepts than throwing money at the screen.

As expected, the Animation Hoodwinked had a very good start, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Of course it’s an Hollywood film, but few people will feel the difference, as the marketing by Showbox focused on the fact Kim Soo-Mi, Kang Hye-Jung, Im Ha-Ryong and ‘Doctor Noh’ Noh Hong-Cheol were dubbing this one. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I like the idea of animation or any film being dubbed, but this is clearly a strategy which paid off for this film, which will likely increase the chances future foreign Animation films will focus their marketing on the dubbed version, as opposed to the subtitled one. Maybe domestic Animation producers will learn a lesson from this too, using famous voice talent for their works, which could be as important as flashy CGI or flawless artwork. The film almost reached the 100,000 tickets over the weekend in Seoul, for a total close to 350,000. As Ice Age 2 is debuting soon, I don’t know how long the film’s run will last, but looking at its impressive 2,500+ screen average tells me maybe this will be the first foreign film to reach the Million tickets in a while.

Relatively big fall for 청춘만화 (Almost Love), which didn’t fare as well as I expected against the competition. With over 50,000 tickets in Seoul over the weekend, the film is getting closer to the 2 Million tickets, mark it should reach today. Per screen average is still rather solid along with 240 screens nationwide, so the comedy starring Kwon Sang-Woo and Kim Ha-Neul should stay in the top 10 for quite a while. Although by now the 3 Million look a bit unlikely, it should beat 음란서생 (Forbidden Quest)‘s score, grabbing second place on this year’s top grossing films list. It’s probably not the kind of result Showbox expected, but given the strong competition in the last month, it’s still quite good. This week sees the release of the Human Drama 마이캡틴, 김대출 (My Captain, Mr. Underground), which drew a pretty lukewarm reaction in today’s press screening. The presence of Jung Jae-Young should be enough to secure a decent first week, perhaps even on top, but it shouldn’t do that well in the long run. Other releases of note Spike Lee’s Inside Man, Michael Winterbottom’s Code 46 and of course Ice Age 2, which should compete for the Top 3 during the weekend.

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Box Office - April 7/9
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달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl)
Official Website
2006 KOREA - dir. Son Jae-Gon
[Cast: Park Yong-Woo, Choi Kang-Hee, Jo Eun-Ji, Jung Kyung-Ho, Lee Hee-Do]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - Released on April 6
28.8% (New) Share - 2,171 Per Screen Avg. - 283 Screens (New) Nationwide [60 in Seoul]
544,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (165,000 in Seoul)

2.

Hoodwinked
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. Cory Edwards
[Voices: Kim Soo-Mi, Kang Hye-Jung, No Hong-Cheol, Im Ha-Ryong, Lee Jang-Won]
Distributed By Showbox - Released on April 6
18.8% (New) Share - 2,599 Per Screen Avg. - 176 Screens (New) Nationwide [35 in Seoul]
348,777 Tickets Sold Nationwide (103,532 in Seoul)

청춘만화 (Almost Love)
Official Website
2006 KOREA - dir. Lee Han
[Cast: Kwon Sang-Woo, Kim Ha-Neul, Jung Gyu-Soo, Park Ji-Bin, Jung Min-Ah]
Distributed By Showbox - Released on March 23
11.2% (-15.2%) Share - 1,129 Per Screen Avg. - 240 Screens (-108) Nationwide [48 in Seoul]
1,909,189 Tickets Sold Nationwide (539,011 in Seoul)

Pride and Prejudice
Official Website
2006 UK - dir. Joe Wright
[Cast: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench]
Distributed By UIP Korea - Released on March 23
10.7% (-4.5%) Share - 1,181 Per Screen Avg. - 150 Screens (=) Nationwide [44 in Seoul]
680,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (301,000 in Seoul)

Fun with Dick & Jane
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Dean Parisot
[Cast: Jim Carrey, Tea Leoni, Alec Baldwin, Michelle Arthur, Richard Burgi]
Distributed By Sony Pictures - Released on March 30
8.7% (-8.5%) Share - 1,054 Per Screen Avg. - 159 Screens (=) Nationwide [40 in Seoul]
437,193 Tickets Sold Nationwide (174,237 in Seoul)

Crash
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. Paul Haggis
[Cast: Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito]
Distributed By Studio2.0 - Released on April 6
5.5% (New) Share - 1,122 Per Screen Avg. - 87 Screens (New) Nationwide [24 in Seoul]
74,754 Tickets Sold Nationwide (31,121 in Seoul)

7.

Failure to Launch
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Tom Dey
[Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha, Kathy Bates]
Distributed By UIP Korea - Released on April 7
4.7% (New) Share - 696 Per Screen Avg. - 100 Screens (New) Nationwide [33 in Seoul]
50,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (26,000 in Seoul)

Edison
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. David J. Burke
[Cast: Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, Francoise Yip]
Distributed By Lotte Entertainment - Released on April 6
3.4% (New) Share - 823 Per Screen Avg. - 88 Screens (New) Nationwide [20 in Seoul]
65,939 Tickets Sold Nationwide (19,356 in Seoul)

Basic Instincts 2
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Michael Caton-Jones
[Cast: Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, Charlotte Rampling, David Thewlis, Hugh Dancy]
Distributed By Cinema Service - Released on March 30
2.5% (-9.9%) Share - 295 Per Screen Avg. - 226 Screens (-149) Nationwide [20 in Seoul]
330,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (105,000 in Seoul)

10.

Where The Truth Lies
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. Atom Egoyan
[Cast: Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman, Sonja Bennett, Rachel Blanchard]
Distributed By Mirovision - Released on April 6
1.8% (New) Share - 637 Per Screen Avg. - 75 Screens (New) Nationwide [14 in Seoul]
23,550 Tickets Sold Nationwide (10,068 in Seoul)

xx.
카리스마 탈출기 (The Legend of 7 Cutter)
2006 KOREA - dir. Kwon Nam-Gi [Cast: Yoon Eun-Hye, Ahn Jae-Mo, Lee Jung]
81,945 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
마법사들 (The Magicians)
2006 KOREA - dir. Song Il-Gon [Cast: Jung Woong-In, Kang Kyung-Heon, Lee Seung-Bi]
6,754 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
망종 (Grain In Ear)
2006 KOREA - dir. Zhang Lu [Cast: Ju Gwang-Hyeon, Ryu Yeon-Hee]
1,741 Tickets Sold Nationwide

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2006 Box Office Top 10 (Korean Films)
===========================

01. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 6,002,000
02. 음란서생 (Forbidden Quest) - 2,570,000
03. 청춘만화 (Almost Love) - 1,909,189
04. 흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) - 1,784,646
05. 구세주 (Oh! My God) - 1,770,630
06. 홀리데이 (Holiday) - 1,345,174
07. 싸움의 기술 (The Art of Fighting) - 1,273,000
08. 데이지 (Daisy) - 1,039,000
09. 야수 (Running Wild) - 995,025
10. 방과후 옥상 (See You After School) - 830,000

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All Time Box Office Top 20 (Korean Films)
=============================

01. 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) - 12,296,840 [2005]
02. 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) - 11,746,135 [2004]
03. 실미도 (Silmido) - 11,108,000 [2003]
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. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 6,002,000 [2006]
08. 공동경비구역 JSA (Joint Security Area) - 5,830,000 [2000]
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: nKino, Film2.0, Yonhap News, KOBIS]

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Reader Comments

Lucy ricardo 04/10/2006 @ 11:39am

dear mr. x,

thanks for the info, how is the king and the clown doing internationally? did the foreign distributors bought the film rights already? i hope this film will break box office records in Asia because the trailer alone rocks! i cant wait to buy the dvd of this. i hope it is full of special features, i hope it features the long lines at the box office, the audience reaction etc.. when is the dvd coming out in korea?
jon pais 04/10/2006 @ 1:27pm

I realize it’s a completely different idea, but ever since seeing films like Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild” and Scorsese’s “After Hours”, I’ve become hooked on these wacky pictures where the fella falls for the nuttier-than a fruitcake gal, only to have all hell break loose. If the film takes us into some dark places, this could be a real winner.
x 04/10/2006 @ 1:39pm

Well, based on reviews, all hell doesn’t break loose. But it does turn a little more ‘serious’ when he finds out his newfound girlfriend’s ‘hobby’. High marks for Park Yong-Woo, who could become a breakout star, and especially GREAT dialogue. Tons of 명대사 (’famous lines’) posted already all over the net. Seems like a winner.

Lucy, the film is releasing in Japan next year, but it should do the rounds in Asia before that. DVD releases in June or July.
Lucy Venus slimmer's World 04/10/2006 @ 2:20pm

dear mr. x,

will the 4 hour version of the king and the clown be push through in the cinemas or the dvds? im so addicted of the king and the clown. ive seen it 3 times in korea. i went to korea just to see the king and the clown. im from the philippines. and i became an addict of the film, i can’t stop thinking about that film. it really strike me. every scene in the film was marvelous and pleasing to the eye. i hope Oscar awards will nominate this in the foreign language film. this film should deserved its merits to the producers because they broke the mold, quality counts. i like to congratulate to the cast and crew of the king and the clown. it’s an experience i’ll never forget. long live Korean Cinema!
Michul 04/11/2006 @ 8:18pm

X, I can’t seem to find your review on 망종 (Grain in Ear) on Twitch. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly highly recommend it. And if you have seen it and written a review, where might I find it?
x 04/12/2006 @ 12:22am

Actually haven’t seen that yet, but I know it’s been praised quite a bit. A Korean DVD is a little unlikely (or if it comes out, it’ll be on IndieDB or similar Korea-only stores), but hopefully someone else will pick it up.
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