The Teaser Trailer for Kim Jung-Eun's 사랑니 (Close To You) was released today. Jung Ji-Woo's film is expected to release this Fall.
Teaser Trailer (Streaming, Windows Media)
Via MaxMovie
As widely reported, 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) was the big winner at the weekend box office. In only 4 days after release, the film sold a record 1,460,000 tickets nationwide, from 420 screens (110 in Seoul). It's the third best opening week ever for a Korean film, after the 1,770,000 of 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) and 1,590,000 of 실미도 (Silmido).
But it could be a short term victory for the film, which received good to great reviews from critics, but is not creating great popular reaction amongst netizens. What's worrying is that the % of tickets sold went down from 51.6% of the opening day, to 46.1% on Satuday and 43.5% on Suday. 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol)'s release is just around the corner, so while the film's prospects are still good for the future, that ratio might go down even by 20 or 30% when the war movie debuts on August 4. The only other Korean film to do well in the top 10 was 천군 (Heaven's Soldiers), which has sold a total of 1,140,000 tickets nationwide. 그리스 로마신화-올림포스 가디언 (Olympus Guardian) continued the negative streak for domestic animation, selling a mere 12,000 tickets from 53 screens.
1 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) 49.1% - 1,460,000
2 The Island 23.8% - 1,971,000
3 Stealth 8.2% - 263,000
4 Robots 8.0% - 251,000
5 Madagascar 4.2% - 1,360,000
6 War of The Worlds 2.5% - 3,150,000
7 천군 (Heaven's Soldiers) 1.7% - 1,140,000
8 Boogieman 1.5% - 53,000
9 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 0.2% - 3,540,000
10 올림포스 가디언 (Olympus Guardian) 0.2% - 12,000
Via Film2.0 and Cine21
Film2.0 updated their weekly Critics' Poll, this time with short reviews for 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol). Again, unusual for a Korean film, all thumbs up.
Yang Sung-Hee: A mix of history and fantasy at the right moment. A Model commercial film.
Park Eun-Joo: A War film devoid of macho posturing, boorishness and patriotism. Welcome!
Lee Sang-Yong: The epitome of good genrebending filmmaking, and comedy.
Lee Ji-Hoon: A film able to show how enjoyable the hypnotic and anarchic essence of life and unique magic of the movies can be.
Jang Byung-Won: A film for everybody advocating loss of nationality and frontiers.
Via Film2.0
Veteran Lee Soon-Jae, a very familiar face for TV Drama fans, will return to the big screen after 18 years, in Nam Sung-Ho's 모두들, 괜찮아요? (Is Everybody OK?). The film also stars Kim Yoo-Seok and Kim Ho-Jung, and will be funded by CJ Entertainment. Lee, one of the most prolific and active actors of his generation, was at the height of his popularity in the 70s, working with famous directors like Yoo Hyun-Mok and Go Young-Nam. The film started shooting today, and is expected to release at the end of the year.
Via Yahoo Korea
Korean films' export sales for the first half of 2005 have risen to US$ 41,809,976, with 153 films involved. KOFIC released stats, reporting an increase year on year of 28.6%, from 2004's US$ 32,522,150. The average buying price was US$ 273,268 per film. The biggest increases were in South America, where 7 countries bought rights to 14 films, including 활 (The Bow), 살인의 추억 (Memories of Murder) and 폰 (Phone). As always, the strongest market for Korean movies remains the neighbouring Japan, with 36 films averaging US$ 867,960.
Via Star News
연리지 (Love Story), the new film starring Choi Ji-Woo and Jo Han-Seon will start shooting on August 3. The melodrama recently added Choi Sung-Gook and Seo Young-Hee to the cast. Directs the Assistant Director of 인정사정 볼 것 없다 (Nowhere To Hide) Kim Sung-Joong.
Via Naver News and Newswire
