Korea Weekend Box Office - March 9-11

Well. This week's box office could have been posted three hours ago. But as I was compiling it, I was confronted by the question: "What the heck is SMOKIN' ACES?" Never heard of the film. A quick Metacritic search later and I had my answer: A dumb mobster/hitman movie, starring Jeremy Piven. Lots of guns and insubstantial style and, again, dumbness. So I did a quick check on the Internet and discovered a screening was starting in 20 minutes near my house. I went. I saw.

I was mildly amusing, but not as much as I had hoped. I am still relying on 300 to slake the violence-loving-nerd beast within. In the meantime, I am back from the theater, ready to report on the top-10.

Anyhow, leading the box this week, once again, is MUSIC AND WORDS BY, now having earned about $4 million since its release. At least it lead this box office report. KOBIS had the No. 1 spot going to THE ILLUSIONIST (like SMOKIN' ACES, lots of technique and style, but rather dumb). But on this chart, THE ILLUSIONIST was No. 2.

In general, not a lot happening on this chart. MIRACLE ON 1ST STREET had now sold over 2.5 million tickets, making it a solid (although not spectacular) hit. Even YOBI: THE FIVE-TAILED FOX made a mini-surge, rising to 12th this week (up from 19th last week), having now topped 458,000 admissions.

Look for lots more excitement next week, as oodles of new releases hit the screens. Will 300 be as big a surprise in Korea was it was in North America last weekend (where it made $70 million)? I doubt it. But I know I will be sending at least $7 to Warner Bros.

This Week	Title........................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Attendance (Seoul only)	Total Attendance
1.	Music and Lyrics By	2.28	136	87,400	609,900
2.	The Illusionist	3.08	242	73,900	255,300
3.	Pursuit of Happiness	2.28	140	55,000	482,300
4.	Miracle on 1st Street	2.14	274	44,000	2,551,000
5.	Dreamgirls	2.22	114	44,000	650,000
6.	Smokin' Aces	3.08	136	33,000	111,000
7.	Highway Star	2.14	237	20,100	1,601,700
8.	Shim's Family	3.01	168	18,500	290,500
9.	Hannibal Rising	2.28	182	12,900	247,500
10.	Hoola Girls	3.01	69	5,000	45,000

(Source: Film2.0)

Monday Morning Host

Early word coming in THE HOST, which was released in the United States and China last weekend. Box Office Mojo reports that THE HOST pulled in $320,000 in 71 theaters. That works out to No. 23...

But since it was on a relatively small number of films, that gives it the 8th best per-screen average. And 4th best among films on over 20 screens.

China numbers will not be out until later today or early tomorrow... will update as soon as I know.

No Hosting THE HOST

The New York Post is reporting that Magnolia (the distributor of THE HOST) is taking Google to court, demanding Google turn over the identities of the users who uploaded the entire films THE HOST and ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM. THE HOST, of course, is getting its big North American release in March, so Magnolia is worried that is people watch it online for free, then they will not see it in the theaters (not to state the obvious).

I made a quick check on Youtube, and could not find THE HOST (just some trailers and behind the scenes stuff. However, I did find the complete BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE (no subtitles).

(And for no particular reason, here are some Youtube Muppet links -- opening theme,Rita Morena and Animal, Peter Sellers and whiskey and wild wild women, Banana Boat song, Beaker singing Feelings, Muh-na-ma-nah, Swedish Chef).

Oh, the New York Times likes THE HOST, too.

UPDATE: Not just the New York Times. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives THE HOST a 94% freshness rating -- 50 good votes, only 3 negative. Impressive.

Coming Attractions

Looks like the coming movie line-up is beginning to take shape, as more films are making the release schedule over at Cine 21. This is an interesting time of year, as local studios unload a lot of films ahead of the summer crunch, when the Hollywood big guns come out (and local big guns, like THE HOST). And with SPIDER-MAN 3 getting released on May 4 in Korea, the big summer season will be starting earlier than ever.

Some notable releases (in my humble opinion) on the way:

March 22 - SOO. This is the first Korean-language film made by the famous Korean-Japanese director Choi Yang-il (better known as Yoichi Sai, who made BLOOD AND BONES, DOING TIME and WHERE IS THE MOON?).


April 5 - THE SHOW MUST GO ON. The new Song Gang-ho film that Lotte Entertainment has high hopes for. I do not know much about it, but I will mindlessly brag that I have a ticket to the world premiere in Hong Kong in a couple of weeks.

April 12 - ACROSS THE YEARS. The latest film by Im Kwon-taek, a follow-up to his huge 1993 hit SOPYONGJE. Oh Jeong-hae, who played Song-hwa in SOPYONGJE, returns to her famous role, but no Kim Myung-gon, who is now the Minister of Culture & Tourism.


April 19 - BREATH. Kim Ki-duk's latest, about a man on death row and the woman who loves him. Not to be confused with MAUNDY THURSDAY.

MEET MR. DADDY. The new film by Park Gwang-su. About a man who meets his estranged daughter for the first time in a long time while on his way to a soccer game during the 2002 World Cup.

May 3 - ADEUL. The latest by Jang Jin.

May 17 - SECRET SUNSHINE. Lee Chang-dong's first film since stepping down as Minister of Science & Technology. Maybe for his next film, he could direct Kim Myung-gon?

(If Free Use Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Copyright

Kind of interesting, imho -- the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has opened a website full of items whose copyrights have expired, and so are available for free use. Literature, music, art, just oodles of interesting stuff. The Ministry claims over 10,000 works will be available at first, with more to come, although I have not tried counting. It is all in Korean, but even blind clicking can turn up some interesting artworks (try poking around this area).



As I have mentioned before, the Ministry of Culture is currently pushing "Han Culture" (traditional Korean culture) as a way of moving the Korean Wave to a second phase, beyond just pop culture. I am pretty ambivalent about this idea for many reasons... I mean, I like the idea of better presenting traditional Korean culture. But I have doubts about how receptive the world will be on a popular level to this campaign. And I am in general skeptical anytime governments get involved in culture.

Instead of creating a new campaign, I would be much happier if the government just cleaned up its existing palaces (get rid of the linoleum and mold and put in real traditional paper floors) and created interesting brochures and audio tours (written and performed by professionals... not some vice-minister's niece or whatever). Or give Ryu Seung-whan a few dollars to set his new violence fest in the Chosun Dynasty, that could be fun.

Sure, Korean culture has a lot of great stuff -- but so has Thai culture, and Mongolia, and Kenyan, and Maori, and... and... and....

Point being, if you want to raise your profile and become significant to the world, you need to present works that capture people's imaginations. You cannot just sit back and expect the world to come to you and love you.

Korea Weekend Box Office - March 2-4

Another quiet week in Korean cinema, with everyone claiming victory this week. Well, not everyone, but things were quiet enough that three different titles were boasting they were No. 1.

Tops on my chart was the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy MUSIC AND LYRICS BY, which pulled in 89,100 admissions in Seoul. Nationally, however, MIRACLE ON 1ST STREET was by far the most popular film (according to our friends at KOBIS). KOBIS gave MIRACLE 19.3% of the weekend's audience share, versus 15% for MUSIC.

And another film claimed the top spot -- the No. 2 film on my chart, PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. HAPPINESS claimed to be the top film, based on ... uh, I do not know. They just seem to be claiming the top spot (by audience share).

Jeong Yun-cheol's second film, SHIM'S FAMILY, looks like it will not begin to approach the success of his debut, MARATHON. Okay, so maybe he was not trying to top MARATHON... but still, that was a pretty weak response to a movie in 170+ theaters.

Very strange to see the top two films this week appearing on so few screens, just 143 and 141. I cannot remember the last time something like that happened. Korea is usually pretty quiet in March and April. But with Warner Bros really pushing 300 at the moment, it will be interesting to see how that film does when it makes its debut on March 15.

This Week	Title........................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Attendance (Seoul only)	Total Attendance
1.	Music and Lyrics By	2.28	143	89,100	315,400
2.	Pursuit of Happiness	2.28	141	69,800	283,900
3.	Miracle on 1st Street	2.14	290	62,000	2,273,000
4.	Dreamgirls	2.22	110	54,000	519,000
5.	Shim's Family	3.01	171	31,500	176,200
6.	Highway Star	2.14	252	28,600	1,447,000
7.	Hannibal Rising	2.28	185	26,000	157,500
8.	Babel	2.22	107	14,900	199,100
9.	A Day for an Affair	2.08	195	11,600	1,798,600
10.	Hoola Girls	3.01	69	10,300	28,500

(Source: Film2.0)

Early K-Rock Photos

Ken Leighty, who runs the Korea a Tour of Duty website (for veterans who served in the US 8th Army Korea), has posted some pictures of club and stage shows in Korea in the 1950s.

Needless to say, I love that sort of stuff. Most interesting among them are pictures of a Korean band called "Keys". Judging from the sign behind them, "Lock and Key," this was the earliest days of the Key Boys (Lock & Key was their original name). The Key Boys were one of the first and most popular rock bands (or "Group Sound") in Korea (at least in the pre-Pearl Sisters era). You can read more about them and Kim Jong-hak here.


(And, of course, Gusts of Popular Feelings has talked already about this music and era).

Anyhow, Korean rock from that era is some of my favorite music, and I love hearing stories and stuff from that time period. Thanks much to Ken for posting those pictures. I also link to this pic. Not because it is significant or anything; it just kind of creeps me out... like something from LADY VENGEANCE.