If It's Raining, It Must Be PiFan

This year's Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) kicked off last night. So naturally it is raining now. Taking place during Korea's rainy season, PiFan is usually a pretty wet festival. Not that I mind -- anything to keep temperatures down makes me happy.

PiFan opened with the animated film WALTZ WITH BASHIR, which I quite liked, despite the depressing subject matter (about the war in Lebanon in the 1980s). In fact, I think it was the best opening film I can recall at PiFan.

Was 28 DAYS LATER an opening film? That is the only thing close I can think of.

I am going to be too busy this year to spend a lot of time at PiFan (unlike last year, when I was here the whole time). But I am looking forward to seeing a few movies at least -- especially the hwalgeuk films, international coproduction action films from the 1960s and 1970s.

The other fun thing I am looking forward to is some of the live concerts. Tonight there will be Kingston Rudieska and Windy City. Sunday is Crying Nut. But the most interesting show is defintely on Monday, as Sato Yukie and his Korea classic rock tribute band Gopchangjeongol will be playing.

More later. Maybe.

Korea Weekend Box Office - July 11-13

John Woo's epic RED CLIFF got off to a pretty good start last weekend, as it had the biggest opening weekend for any Chinese-language film ever in Korea. With over 800,000 admissions in its first four days, distributor Showbox thinks it might be able to make it to 3 million admissions before its run is over, which would make it the all-time biggest Chinese film in Korea.

Getting to 3 million is going to be tough, though, with THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD opening this Thursday. I have a feeling GBW is going to be on just about every screen on the peninsula... going to be a very tough weekend for the competition next weekend.

As for this weekend's movies... PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS is still doing fairly well, and has not inched past the 4 million admissions mark. Looks like 5 million is pretty unlikely, but not a bad run.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Red Cliff	7.10	568	4.31	5.10
2.	Hancock	7.02	605	3.91	15.11
3.	Wanted	6.26	415	2.14	17.04
4.	Public Enemy Returns (Gangcheoljung - Korean)	6.19	397	2.00	25.99
5.	Kung Fu Panda	6.05	386	1.17	29.12
6.	Crossing (Korean)	6.26	316	0.77	4.96
7.	The Strangers	7.02	187	0.31	1.40
8.	Rec	7.10	128	0.26	0.32
9.	Santamaria (Jalmotdoen Mannam - Korean)	7.10	189	0.19	0.22
10.	Impy's Island	6.26	64	0.046	0.16

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

Will Lee Jun-ik's SUNNY be this year's D-WAR to GBW's MAY 18? I.e., can Lee's film (which will be released July 24) piggyback off of GBW's excitement without being overwhelmed by the competition, similar to how D-WAR and MAY 18 both did well last year?. Still a couple of weeks ago from finding out.

Last year, the studios pretty much left August open for Korean films to do well. This year, however, we have WALL-E and THE DARK KNIGHT coming quickly, so there could be a lot more competition.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird -- Mini Review (Spoiler Free)

I have now seen THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD - twice! - and I can confirm that Kim Jee-woon's "eastern Western" is a heck of a lot of fun. Lots of great action from beginning to end (with three major action sequences that kick some serious butt), very few slow spots, plenty of laughs throughout -- everything you would want from a summer blockbuster.


On Sunday, I got to see the Cannes version of the film, then on Monday was the official press and VIP premiere at the Yongsan CGV. The new version of the film is only slightly different, with a small addition at the opening and an additional scene at the ending... nothing too huge, but they improve the movie, I thought. Especially the new ending.


As for the story itself, it is pretty basic (and well described in earlier reviews). Set in 1930s Manchuria, TGTBTW is the story of a hidden treasure map and the three guys hunting for it. Jung Woo-sung plays "The Good," and does a great job pulling off the action scenes and stunts (he apparently broke him arm filming the big action sequence in the middle of the film). Lee Byung-hun is the cool assassin, aka "The Bad," hired by the pro-Japanese businessman to get the man. And Song Gang-ho is suitably weird as "The Weird," a ball of chaotic energy who stumbles across the map early in the movie.

In addition, there are rival gangs, the Japanese authorities, the occasional opium dealer and more to add to the energetic mix.

Okay, it is not a perfect film... it does drag a little in a couple of places and there are several scenes that would not hold up to careful analysis or logic. But it is more than enough fun to compensate for those problems. Definitely raises the bar for Korean movies (at least for blockbusters).


Most amazingly for a Korean movie, TGTBTW has no annoying crying scenes, nor does it end in tears. Seriously, think about it. I cannot think of any movie in the Korean top 25 that did not end with a climatic weepy scene. Maybe D-WAR, but that film was an oddball in every way (plus I was laughing at the film so much, it is hard to remember what the director intended). TAZZA, perhaps... But THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is all fun and totally worthwhile.

Hopefully CJ Entertainment will release the film with English subtitles, at least in a couple of locations.

UPDATE: Just got it confirmed from CJ Entertainment that TGTBTW will be showing at Yongsan CGV with English subtitles, starting July 17 (opening day). So check it out.

Korea Weekend Box Office - July 4-6

A good opening for HANCOCK in Korea, with a solid $6.5 million weekend. Koreans seem to like Will Smith (like pretty much everybody on the planet). I thought HANCOCK was okay... did not like Smith as the surly drunk (found it most unbelievable). But the movie from the big surprise to the climax was fun and interesting. Plus it has been quite a while since I was that surprised by a film.

Otherwise, not a lot going on in the top-10 this week. The top six films did okay, but the rest of the films barely pulled in small change. INCREDIBLE HULK was the biggest drop, falling from fifth to 13th. MY MIGHTY PRINCESS flopped from eighth to 15th (making just $170,000 since it opened).

FYI, the old Jeremy Irons/Robert DiNiro film THE MISSION is playing in Seoul on a couple of screens -- on the old Dream Cinema (beside Seodaemun subway station) and somewhere else. It has made about $20,000 since June 26... not bad for a 20-year-old movie.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Hancock	7.02	686	6.64	8.75
2.	Wanted	6.26	464	3.38	13.28
3.	Public Enemy Returns (Gangcheoljung - Korean)	6.19	523	2.61	22.62
4.	Kung Fu Panda	6.05	426	1.52	27.60
5.	Crossing (Korean)	6.26	374	0.95	3.68
6.	The Strangers (aka "Knock")	7.02	231	0.52	0.74
7.	Crows Zero	6.26	191	0.070	0.094
8.	Impy's Island	6.26	70	0.061	0.11
9.	Planet Terror	7.03	145	0.055	0.077
10.	Summer Days With Coo	6.26	18	0.033	0.15

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Korea Weekend Box Office - June 27-29

Not much to say this week about the box office. PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS is still doing well, up to 2.7 million admissions. KUNG FU PANDA is about to pass 4 million admissions and should become the biggest foreign film of the year shortly.

Oh and I should note how poorly Kwak Jae-young's MY MIGHTY PRINCESS did. Worse than DAISY. Ouch.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Wanted	6.26	629	5.61	7.12
2.	Public Enemy Returns (Gangcheoljung - Korean)	6.19	669	4.88	17.88
3.	Kung Fu Panda	6.05	524	2.69	25.48
4.	Crossing (Korean)	6.26	402	1.57	2.07
5.	Incredible Hulk	6.12	274	0.30	6.31
6.	Sex & the City	6.05	129	0.20	6.97
7.	Get Smart	6.19	226	0.11	1.09
8.	My Mighty Princess (Korean)	6.26	199	0.095	0.12
9.	21	6.19	89	0.084	0.69
10.	Summer Days with Coo	6.26	27	0.054	0.11

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

I'm Your PiFan...

The organizers of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) made their official announcement of this year's fest earlier in the week. And as usual, it looks like a pretty loaded festival, with oodles of special sections for just about every taste.

PiFan will open on July 18 and run until July 25. Opening film is WALTZ WITH BASHIR by Ari Folman. Closing film is the world premiere of CYBORG, SHE, the latest by Kwak Jae-young. All told, PiFan will screen 205 films from 39 countries.

Highlights this year include:

Codename Dorans: Korean Hwalguek Cinema in Japan in Hong Kong. A look at eight actions films from the 1960s to the 1980s that were coproductions with Japan and Hong Kong.

100 Years of Nikkatsu. Eight films from the famous Japanese studio, ranging from 1934 to 1975 (and one new film).

Grindhouse Revisited. Four "classic" sexploitation films, complete with crappy trailers. Includes CHAINED HEAT.

Q-Rious. A collection of queer films.

Gregg Araki.Four of his films.

Contemporary Russian Genre Films.

A restored print of Kim Ki-young's THE HOUSEMAID.

OM SHANTI OM, the big Bollywood hit from last year.

As usual, PiFan will also have several concerts going on, all held in the grass courtyard outside of Bucheon City Hall.

July 19: Windy City, Kingston Rudieska

July 20: Crying Nut, YNot

July 21: Gopchangjeongol, Sato Yukie, Mina Jung

July 22: Limer, Drifters (b-boy team), Bubble

In addition, PiFan has started an industry section called NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films), which will feature a project market, industry screenings, seminars and the like. Most of that stuff will not be open to the general public, but it will make my life busier.

Anyhow, there is way too much to see, depending on your tastes and interests, for me to list everything. Check out the PiFan website to see it all.

Phoo-E

Just found out that the newest Pixar film, WALL-E, has had its opening pushed back to July 31. Buena Vista bastards. The film had been scheduled to open nearly at the same time as North America (July 3 in Korea), but now they expect us to wait a month? Terrible. Looks like the DVD pirates around Seoul just found a major winner for the next month.

Suffice it to say, this had been the Hollywood film I was most looking forward to seeing this summer. WALL-E looks like it will be solid writing combined with several attempts to push the envelope for a mainstream movie. Plus it looked like really smart science fiction. If you don't believe me, you can check out the trailers for yourself.

And now I have to wait. Bah.

Kim Ki-young DVDs Coming!

Great news -- the Korean Film Archive is finally putting out a 4-DVD box set of Kim Ki-young's movies. It's about time!


Kim, of course, is one of Korea's most famous directors from the 1960s, most notably for his 1960 thriller THE HOUSEMAID (which also featured a young Ahn Sung-ki).

The box set will feature GOREOJANG, PROMISES, CHUNGNYEO and, best of all (imho), I-EOH ISLAND.

Now, you may notice that Kim's best-known film, THE HOUSEMAID, is not included in the box set. But do not fear -- I was told today that THE HOUSEMAID is going to be released very soon on its own.

You might also like to know that the Korean Film Archive's screening room in Sangam-dong is in the middle of a Kim Ki-young retrospective, with most of the films being shown with English subtitles.

If you want to learn more about Kim Ki-young, Seoul Selection published a book about the great director recently. You can order a copy here.

Korea Weekend Box Office - June 20-22

At long last, a Korean film is back on top of the box office, Kang Woo-suk's PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS. Like you would expect from a Kang film, it opened strong, with 1.4 million admissions over the weekend (around $7 million). The big question is how well it will hold up over the next couple of weeks. Kang's SILMIDO kept on strong to 11 million admissions, but ANOTHER PUBLIC ENEMY and HANBANDO fell off more sharply, ending up with 3.9 million million admissions each.

The other Korean movie in the top-10, CROSSING, is quite interesting, considering it has not even been officially released yet. Release is set for June 26, but already the film is on 100 screens. In case you have not heard, director Kim Tae-gyun's CROSSING is about North Korean defectors and the terrible dangers that await then as they try to get out of North Korea, through China, to freedom.

With so many thousands of people taking to the streets in recent weeks over American beef and Lee Myung-bak, it will be interesting to see how much of a response an actually important subject draws.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Public Enemy Returns (Gangcheoljung - Korean)	6.19	806	7.53	9.16
2.	Kung-fu Panda	6.05	604	4.05	21.66
3.	Incredible Hulk	6.12	415	1.25	5.68
4.	Get Smart	6.19	249	0.64	0.75
5.	Sex & the City	6.05	285	0.54	6.43
6.	21	6.19	87	0.39	0.45
7.	Doomsday	6.19	264	0.36	0.44
8.	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	5.22	217	0.23	26.59
9.	The Happening	6.13	293	0.21	2.27
10.	Crossing (Korean)	6.26	110	0.10	0.13

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

Korea Weekend Box Office - June 13-15 (late!)

Sorry for putting this week's top-10 up so late. Crazy busy week here.

KUNG FU PANDA is really on a tear, beating out a couple of big new entries in its second weekend. Nearly 1 million tickets in its second weekend? With $16 million so far, if PANDA keeps it up, it could become the most successful animated film ever in Korea (assuming you don't consider films like RETURN OF THE KING to be animated).

IRON MAN finally dropped out of the top-10 this week (it was xxth), giving it a final total of 4.3 million admissions, or $27.8 million.

I was surprised that the two Korean films, LIFE IS COOL and LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, had such limited releases (just a dozen screens or so). Are their distributors trying a soft release? Or did they just give up?

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Kung-Fu Panda	6.05	633	5.88	15.90
2.	Incredible Hulk	6.12	529	3.00	3.45
3.	The Happening	6.13	304	1.39	1.62
4.	Sex & the City	6.05	362	1.18	5.22
5.	Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull	5.22	351	1.01	26.07
6.	What Happens in Vegas	5.29	192	0.28	4.43
7.	Black Heart (Heuksim Monyeo - Korean)	6.12	216	0.23	0.27
8.	Flash Point	6.12	175	0.12	0.14
9.	Girlscout (Korean)	6.05	223	0.10	1.38
10.	Prince Caspian	5.15	??	0.072	9.22

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Korea Weekend Box Office - June 6-8

Holy crap! Korean movies in May had their worst month on record -- just 7.8 percent of the boxoffice. KOFIC says that is the lowest level they have since 2000 (when they started tracking). Ouch.

Just one Korean film in the top 10 this week, GIRL SCOUT, so the bad news is going to continue for at least a little while longer.

Oh, and I am going back to tracking attendance, at least for this week. For some reason KOBIS is not updating, so I am using Film 2.0 stats, and they only track attendance. Not sure yet what I am going to do going forward.

(UPDATE: KOBIS finally updated its website. And this week's numbers were slightly different than the earlier estimate, so I have updated below)

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (billion won)	Total Revenue (billion won)
1.	Kung Fu Panda	6.05	632	7.40	8.09
2.	Indiana Jones and the Bored Our of My Skull	5.22	527	3.78	24.43
3.	Sex & the City	6.05	412	2.41	3.02
4.	What Happens in Vegas	5.29	299	1.01	3.83
5.	Girl Scout (Korean)	6.05	292	0.88	1.05
6.	Prince Caspian	5.15	236	0.57	9.09
7.	The Eye	6.05	123	0.35	0.41
8.	88 Minutes	5.29	236	0.32	1.76
9.	Iron Man	4.30	99	0.15	27.75
10.	Body	5.29	118	0.079	0.69

(Source: Film 2.0)


As bleak as things are at the moment, they should start looking up soon, as some of Korea's biggest films of the summer start to unroll -- PUBLIC ENEMY 3 on June 19, CROSSING on June 26 and THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD on July 10 17.

Not so big but potentially interesting is the rotoscope romantic comedy SHE WAS COOL on June 12, Kwak Jae-young's latest exercise in too-much-is-just-enough MY MIGHTY PRINCESS on June 26, and the historical epic THE DIVINE WEAPON on Aug. 7.

Korea Weekend Box Office - May 30-June 1

Only one Korean film in the top-10 again this week -- CHERRY TOMATO, way down in tenth. Korean movies had dropped below 40 percent of the market for 2008 (down to 38.7%). American films are up to 47.9 percent. INDIANA JONES 4 remained at the top of the box office. All rather depressing.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	5.22	735	5.55	19.30
2.	What Happens in Vegas	5.29	346	1.70	1.98
3.	Prince Caspian	5.15	402	1.00	8.31
4.	88 Minutes	5.29	257	0.95	1.01
5.	Iron Man	4.30	323	0.65	27.42
6.	The Body	5.29	208	0.40	0.48
7.	We Own the Night	5.29	168	0.24	0.29
8.	Never Back Down	5.22	156	0.10	0.73
9.	Taken	4.09	80	0.086	15.90
10.	Cherry Tomato (Bangeul Tomato - Korean)	5.29	104	0.072	0.084

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Giant Robots and Other Fun

This week was one of those really fun weeks that makes me glad to have the job that I do. I got to meet a lot of cool, interesting people and see some extremely cool and interesting things.

One story this week for The Hollywood Reporter was about the coming Robot Taekwon V movie that the veteran filmmaker Shin Chul is producing. The Hollywood producer William Teitler (POLAR EXPRESS, JUMANJI) has signed onto the project, so I talked to him and Shin and the other nice people at Shin's company.


The new Robot Taekwon V movie will be based on the comic books that were just published (that Shin commissioned). It is a sequel to the original story, taking place 32 years after the first movie. Kim Hoon, the young hero of the first film, is now a 45-year-old salaryman with a lousy job and a bad marriage, when he gets a chance to pilot the 56-meter-tall robot again. Judging by the comic, the new story definitely has a lot of potential.

(Oh, it looks like the movie will not be coming to theaters until summer of 2010. So you will have to wait).

I even got to see an amazing bit of demo animation that local f/x house Mofac Studio made. I think something like seven f/x companies will be working on the Robot Taekwon V movie, but unfortunately, I think the Mofac demo is a secret and I have not been able to find anything about it online. There are these two videos on Youtube (here and here), but I think Mofac's was a lot more impressive.

Then for something else I was working on, I coincidentally got to spend some time at the Mofac office on Friday. Mofac is one of Korea's top f/x studios, and has worked on a lot of big projects, from VOLCANO HIGH to TAEWANGSASINGI (and now is doing a lot of work on LAUNDRY WARRIOR). Their office was quite cool. A nice renovated house, with walls covered in signed STAR WARS posters; President Jang has one of the most amazing collections of STAR WARS toys I have ever seen (along with plenty of comic book toys, anime toys and other goodies). Definitely looked like a fun place to work.

Korea Weekend Box Office - May 23-25

No surprise that the new INDIANA JONES film won quite handily this week. It took in 1.6 million admissions, or about $9.1 million. That is quite good -- as in SHREK 3 good. But not PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3 good.

Considering all the competition coming soon (SEX & THE CITY on June 6), not to mention how dreadful INDIANA 4 is (so very, very boring and witless), I'm guessing it should get over 5 million admissions, but nowhere near TRANSFORMERS numbers.

PRINCE CASPIAN got its butt kicked pretty badly in Korea, far outdone by INDY 4 and IRON MAN (although all three films are beating SPEED RACER).

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	5.22	848	9.11	10.50
2.	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	5.15	584	1.86	6.82
3.	Iron Man	4.30	432	1.34	26.28
4.	Never Back Down	5.22	204	0.36	0.41
5.	Taken	4.09	180	0.25	15.63
6.	Penelope	5.15	192	0.21	1.26
7.	Speed Racer	5.08	265	0.13	5.15
8.	Nallari Jongbujeon - Korean	5.22	196	0.088	0.10
9.	Horton Hears a Who	4.30	51	0.030	3.78
10.	Detective Conan: Phantom of Baker Street	5.01	13	0.018	0.70

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

Korean films are down to 41 percent of the box office. And not too many strong Korean films on the horizon until THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD hits in July.

Which reminds me, I think Hollywood is giving THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD a pretty wide berth. WALL-E and HANCOCK are getting released here at the same time as they are in United States (late June/early July), but the new Batman and X-Files movies are being bumped until August... I presume to give them a better chance. If director Kim Jee-woon does not screw this up, it looks like his film will be a monster hit.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird Looks All Good

The first review of THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is in and so far the film is looking pretty good.


Derek Elley at Variety gives the film a very good review, saying:

From the initial train holdup through a shantytown gun battle to a 15-minute desert flatlands chase that's a jaw-dropper, pic maintains an ironic grin that leavens the heavy discharges of ordnance and continuous roundelay of faceoffs.

Also nice to read in Derek's review that Jung Woo-sung's performance holds up, as there have been rumors that Lee Byung-hun and Song Gang-ho were much better than Jung.

One quibble with Derek's review, though -- why does he call the movie the "most expensive South Korean movie to date"? Uh, D-WAR?

I will add more reviews as I find them.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird Trailer Is Online

A flood of trailers for Kim Jee-woon's new film THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD have hit the internet in recent days. And I must say, it is one good looking movie.

A higher quality version of the trailer, but without the English subtitles, is here.

The three stars of the film, Jung Woo-sung, Lee Byung-hun and Sang Gang-ho, all look at the top of their game, too. Assuming CJ Entertainment can get GBW into theaters around the end of July or so, the odds are looking increasingly good that this will be the biggest Korean film of the year.

Korea Weekend Box Office - May 16-18

Wow. Just one Korean film in the top-10 this week — BEASTIE BOYS (aka MOONLIGHT OVER SEOUL), way down in seventh. As people expected, Korean movies' share of the year's box office is plummeting rapidly, thanks to the onslaught of Hollywood summer blockbusters. Korean films are down to 43.8 percent of the box office, while American films have climbed to 43 percent. Those numbers are just going to get worse and worse over the next couple of months.

The top film last weekend was the latest Narnia movie, PRINCE CASPIAN, which had a decent (but not outstanding) $4.06 million opening. That works out to about 641,000 admissions, down slightly from the 716,000 admissions that THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE had in its opening weekend.

Close behind was IRON MAN, which pulled in another $2.8 million to bring its 19-day total to $24.04 million — or 3.7 million admissions.

After the big two, box office numbers decline fast. The next three films did okay, taking in $630,000-740,000. But after No. 5, the remaining films did not do much at all. BEASTIE BOYS made $170,000 to bring its total to $3.7 million.

THE CHASER is still around on a few screens around Korea. It was 17th last weekend, making a few thousand dollars over to bring its big total to $33.93 million (5.07 million admissions).

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Prince Caspian	5.15	670	3.56	4.06
2.	Iron Man	4.30	512	2.81	24.04
3.	Speed Racer	5.08	367	0.74	4.84
4.	Taken	4.09	238	0.71	15.05
5.	Penelope	5.15	160	0.63	0.80
6.	Horton Hears a Who	4.30	233	0.17	3.72
7.	Beastie Boys (Korean)	4.30	155	0.17	4.66
8.	Forbidden Kingdom	4.24	168	0.16	7.81
9.	Priceless	5.08	123	0.11	0.79
10.	Detective Conan: Phantom of Baker Street	5.01	28	0.051	0.68

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Sai Yochi on Korean Films II

Last week I linked to Ryuganji's great translation of a Sai Yochi interview, about his experiences making the movie SOO. Well, Don (of Ryuganji) is back for more, with yet another Sai Yochi interview -- this one even more interesting and critical, but definitely a must-read.

FYI, SOO was made by Triz Club, Co., a movie company that I have never heard of before. So when Sai talks about the two producers he dealt with, I cannot really comment on who they might be. Although I should note that Sai calls them "386 generation" guys and in their mid-thirties -- but if they were 386-gen guys, then they should be in the forties, not their thirties. The two guys listed as the movie's producers, Hwang In-tae and Shin Bum-su (and I have no idea if they were the gentlemen Sai talked about in his interview or if he meant some other people), are not names I recognize at all.

If that is not enough Sai for you, Japan Focus recently translated an interview between Sai and Li Ying, the guy who made the recent YASUKUNI documentary. Really fascinating stuff. Li has been taken to task for his repeated references to a Yasukuni-related event in 1997 that no one can find evidence of having happened. But that seems to me to be a fairly low-level memory mix-up, at worst. Li's definitely made a really interesting film.

Korea Weekend Box Office - May 9-11

IRON MAN continued strong for a second weekend, taking in nearly $5 million, bringing its total 12-day take to over $18 million (or 2.8 million admissions).

SPEED RACER did relatively well in Korea (at least compared to its disastrous opening in the United States), with 424,000 admissions, or $2.74 million.

TAKEN is still doing bizarrely well in Korea, bringing its one-month total to $13.5 million. I have no real explanation for its success here.

Not a bad little bonus for DETECTIVE CONAN, using a second holiday weekend to bring its total to $530,000.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Iron Man	4.30	617	4.85	18.02
2.	Speed Racer	5.08	485	2.41	2.74
3.	Taken	4.09	303	0.99	13.54
4.	Forbidden Kingdom	4.24	300	0.62	7.22
5.	Horton	4.30	344	0.52	3.16
6.	Beastie Boys (Korean)	4.30	306	0.60	4.07
7.	Priceless	5.08	124	0.36	0.41
8.	Tale of the Legendary Libido (Garujigi - Korean)	4.30	309	0.19	1.62
9.	Seouli Boinya (Korean)	5.08	165	0.14	0.17
10.	Detective Conan: Phantom of Baker Street	5.01	41	0.13	0.53

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Sai Yochi on Korean Films

For people interested in Korean films, there is an absolute must read over at Ryuganji, a translation of an interview with director Sai Yochi. Sai (aka Choi Yang-il) directed last year's film noir SOO (aka ART OF REVENGE). The film flopped in Korea and has only just been released in Japan... but the director gives a really enlightening interview about the comparative state of the two nations' film industries. Some of the comments are pretty good, too.