KMovie News + Trailers
Click to view“A Taxi Driver” has become the first film this year to surpass the 12 million-ticket mark as of Saturday, according to the Korean Film Council. The film has sold 12,023,670 tickets in total, becoming the 10th most-viewed Korean film in the country. It sold some 40,000 tickets on Saturday alone. The ninth most-viewed Korean film is “King and the Clown” (2005) by Lee Joon-ik, with 12,302,831 tickets sold.
“A Taxi Driver,” directed by Jang Hoon, has been popular since it opened on Aug. 2. It stars Song Kang-ho as Man-seob, a widowed taxi driver who takes the German journalist Peter, played by Thomas Kretschmann, to Korea’s southern city of Gwangju to witness the May 18 Democratization Movement. The film also stars Ryu Jun-yeol and Yoo Hae-jin.
[A Taxi Driver submitted to Academy for Best Foreign Language Film]South Korean historical film “A Taxi Driver” was submitted to the 90th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, its distributor Showbox said Monday.
The section allows only one entry per country. Korean films were submitted for the section every year but none made it to the final nominees. In 2016, “The Age of Shadows” was submitted for the section.
“‘A Taxi Driver,’ based on a real story, well-illustrated the characteristics of Korea as well as human rights and democratization in Asia. Also, (we) thought it would convey well the meaning of the film to many international viewers with its universal humanistic appeal,” Korean Film Council said.
“A Taxi Driver” tells the story of a cabbie who took a German journalist to the center of the Gwangju pro-democracy movement in May 1980. Since it was released on Aug. 2, the film has drawn more than 12 million cinemagoers.
[Memoir of a Murderer premieres number 1 at the box office + trailer]
"Memoir of a Murderer," starring Seol Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil and Seolhyun, got off to a promising start over the weekend, data showed Monday.
The Showbox crime-thriller, which received mostly positive reviews, attracted a solid audience of 899,986 on its opening weekend, according to real-time box office figures from the Korean Film Council. The movie's accumulated number of views reached 1.191 million.
Based on Kim Young-ha's best-selling novel of the same name, the Won Shin-yun-directed film has topped the daily charts since its release Wednesday. It depicts the story of an aged former serial killer with Alzheimer's who strives to keep his only daughter safe during a wave of murders that strikes his neighborhood.
[Lee Jong Suk movie VIP in misogyny controversy]
[Trailer for I Can Speak starring Lee Je Hoon and Na Moon Hee]
Park Min-Jae (Lee Je-Hoon) is a low ranking public servant at a district office and a man of principle. He suffers from a barrage of civil complaints filed by Na Ok-Boon (Na Moon-Hee). Somehow, Park Min-Jae begins giving English lessons to Na Ok-Boon and a friendship develops... Release date September 21, 2017.
[Ha Ji Won attends Venice Film Festival for Manhunt + trailer]
#HaJiWon at Venice Film Festival for Manhunt pic.twitter.com/GBowjwvcXT
- Netizentown (@Netizentown) September 8, 2017
@hajiwon1023 red carpet~
The 'Manhunt' the 74th Venice Film Festival on Sept 8. #하지원 #hajiwon #ハジウォン #河智苑 #맨헌트 #베니스국제영화제 #manhunt #追捕 #威尼斯影展 pic.twitter.com/707S2aN8S2
- 햇님 1023 (@sun_hjw1023) September 9, 2017
[Trailer for Criminal City starring Ma Dong Seok and Yoon Kyun Sang]
Ma Suk-Do (Ma Dong-Seok) works as a detective squad chief. His team struggles to bust a criminal ring who originally came from Yanbian, China. The criminal ring is led by Jang Chen (Yoon Kye-Sang). Based on the true story of the “Heuksapa Incident” in 2007. Detectives arrested 32 people who were part of a criminal ring. The group consisted of ethnic Koreans who came from Yanbian, China. Release date October 4, 2017.
[CJ E&M aims to make 20 localized films overseas annually by 2020]CJ E&M, the media and entertainment unit of conglomerate CJ, said Wednesday that it will increase the annual number of localized versions of its movies released in overseas markets to 20 by 2020.
It also presented a vision for becoming a "global film studio" that makes films in more than 10 languages, during a press conference at a Seoul hotel.
CJ E&M produced nine localized versions of Korean films last year. It invests in or distributes over 10 to 15 Korean films at home.
Jeong Tae-sung, head of CJ E&M's film division, said as the local market is already saturated, his company is now planning to shift its weight to the global market.
Jeong Tae-sung, head of CJ E&M's film division, speaks during a media presentation on the company's global market strategy at a hotel in central Seoul on Sept. 13, 2017. (Yonhap) Jeong Tae-sung, head of CJ E&M's film division, speaks during a media presentation on the company's global market strategy at a hotel in central Seoul on Sept. 13, 2017. (Yonhap)
The film division has struggled in the local market in recent years, posting a deficit of 13.6 billion won (US$12 million) in the fourth quarter of last year. It turned to a surplus in the first quarter of this year but recorded an operating loss of 1.6 billion won in the second quarter. The production cost per movie is soaring to some 10 billion won but only a few films have exceeded the break-even point.
"The success of CJ E&M in overseas markets will be a test for measuring if the stagnant domestic film industry will be able to make its second leap forward," said Jeong who has led the company's film division since June 2012.
He said the company has learned the best way to reach foreign audiences is producing localized versions of homegrown films than selling remake rights or exporting hit Korean-language movies with subtitles in foreign languages.
"Hollywood movies with global distribution networks do not have cultural barriers anywhere in the world, but it is not easy for Korean films to overcome language and cultural barriers when they are exported in their original form," he said. "The sale of remake rights seldom leads to the actual production of remakes and the Chinese formula of purchasing major theater chains and production companies with capital strength cannot be our model."
Making full use of the "creativeness" of the Korean film industry and producing various localized editions of Korean movies can produce the highest added values and provide a broader opportunity for local creators, he stressed.
Under such a strategy, CJ E&M has produced 23 such films in six countries -- the United States, China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand -- over the past decade, beginning with "August Rush," a South Korea-U.S. co-produced film in 2007.
The most successful known case of localization is CJ Entertainment's 2013 comedy release "Miss Granny."
The film has been remade in China, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, and earned 78 billion won in overseas markets, according to CJ E&M. English. Spanish and Turkish editions of the same Korean film are also ready for production.
In addition, the 2011 South Korean box-office hit "Sunny" began shooting in Vietnam earlier this month, while "Spellbound" (2011) and "Spy" (2015) are also among the CJ Entertainment films in preparation to be made into localized versions.
Sources: HALLYU WORLD OFFICIAL KPopHerald | KPopHerald | HALLYU WORLD OFFICIAL KPopHerald | KBS World TV | HALLYU WORLD OFFICIAL | New Trailer Buzz @Netizentown @sun_hjw1023 | AsianWiki HALLYU WOLRD OFFICIAL | Yonhap
I'm definitely not as into Korean movies as I am dramas, I've probably only seen less than 20 in total, but I want to watch more. I plan on checking out A Taxi Driver. Omona, what are your favorite kmovies? Are you looking forward to any upcoming movies?