Streak interrupted

Hollywood blockbusters halt Korean films’ local dominance

After dominating the local box office for most of 2012 and 2013, Korean films are off to a slower start this year with moviegoers showing more love for Hollywood films.

According to the Korean Film Council, Korean movies combined for a 48 percent share in ticket sales during the three months through March. The figure represented the lowest first-quarter mark since 2010 and a dramatic drop-off from last year’s 68 percent.

Korean cinemas sold an all-time high of 200 million tickets last year, a staggering figure in a country where the economically active population is measured at 25 million. The growth was predominantly driven by Korean movies, which represented eight of the top 10 movies in terms of audience numbers.

It will be difficult for Korean movies to match last year’s success in 2014. Korean movies started 2013 with a bang, with films such as “Miracle in Cell No. 7’’ and “The Berlin File’’ setting the pace in the first few months.

The first three months of 2014 has been dominated by a duo of Hollywood products in the Disney animation “Frozen’’ and the Liam Neeseon action flick ”Non-Stop.’’ And the recently-released “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,’’ the latest addition to Marvel’s expanding movie franchise, is the hottest ticket at the moment.

Cho Sung-jin, an official at CGV, the multiplex theater chain, observed that the films from Hollywood are exploiting a soft period in the movie calendar. With the small number of movies produced during winter and early in the year, March and April are traditionally considered an “off season’’ for Korean movies and 2013 was an exception, Cho said.

“Typically, distributors do not like to release their movies during this time because they will rather have them open near the holiday season, around summer or winter. You usually do not see much blockbuster-type films from Korean filmmakers in March and April,’’ he said.

“Hollywood films of course are less concerned about seasonal trends because something close to a universal release is at the center of their marketing efforts.’’

Frozen, which was released on Jan.16, has so far been the highest-grossing film of 2014, selling more than 10 million tickets here and triggering something close to a cultural phenomenon.

Non-Stop, released in Feb. 27, sold more than 2 million tickets and has yet to drop below the top-five list at the box office.

The Captain America sequel, released on March 26, is doing even better. The movie has already exceeded 2.6 million in audience numbers and controls more than 50 percent of all tickets purchased through online reservations.

The cupboard looks rather bare for Korean films at the moment. Aside of the comedy, “Miss Granny,’’ which sold about 8.6 million tickets since its January release, no Korean film has managed to hit the 2 million audience mark.

The melodrama “Man In Love,’’ featuring Hwang Jung-min, and “Hot Young Bloods,’’ starring Lee Jong-seok, were released in the same month and forgotten quickly.

“Tabloid Truth” and “Venus Talk,” both released in February, barely combined to sell 2 million tickets. “Thread of Lies,’’ a thriller that opened last month, has so far sold 1.6 million tickets.

The market share for Korean movies is expected to improve in the coming months when several blockbuster works will be released, Cho said. The first of them will be “The Fatal Encounter,’’ a period drama featuring Hyun Bin about the mysterious death of King Jeongjo of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). The movie will be released later this month and also open in U.S. theaters in late May.

Other notable Korean films to look out for within the next month are “God’s Eye View,” director Lee Jang-ho’s first film in 19 years, and “10 Minutes” by rookie director Lee Yong-seung, which won the critics’ awards at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival last year.

The coming-of-age tale “Han Gong-ju,’’ which will be released on April 17, is also garnering anticipation after it recently won the Grand Prize at the Fribourg International Film Festival.

“This season’s box office ratings for local films are unusually bad because there aren’t blockbusters to attract viewers. Thread of Lies is the only one doing okay at the moment. But big name films are expected to be released at the end of this month such as The Fatal Encounter which might bring the numbers back up,” said Cho. By Yun Suh-young The korea times