Korean Box Office Update (06/08, 06/10, 2012)

The Emperor's Concubine Beats Aliens and Animals

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Emperor's Concubine	6/6/12	23.60%	511,462	976,696	613
2	Madagascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	16.60%	354,516	635,636	561
3	All About My Wife	5/17/12	13.70%	298,564	3,424,239	393
4	Prometheus (us)	6/6/12	14.80%	272,774	549,092	515
5	Men in Black 3 (us)	5/24/12	11.40%	254,952	3,016,581	396
6	Runway Cop	5/30/12	8.50%	194,779	860,995	351
7	Don't Click	5/30/12	7.20%	175,819	744,844	343
8	Snow White and the Huntsmen (us)	5/30/12	2.50%	57,104	605,619	235
9	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	0.70%	16,148	7,040,163	71
10	The Taste of Money	5/17/12	0.30%	5,493	1,156,868	91

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Korean Box Office Update (06/01-06/03, 2012)

Men in Black Stays Up Top While Domestic Releases Nibble at Its Heels

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Men in Black 3 (us)	5/24/12	26.20%	533,557	2,455,318	540
2	All About My Wife	5/17/12	22.30%	474,494	2,784,894	474
3	Runway Cop	5/30/12	15.30%	334,254	453,570	431
4	Don't Click	5/30/12	12.40%	295,733	353,034	360
5	Snow White and the Huntsmen (us)	5/30/12	11.80%	261,558	452,589	443
6	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	4.60%	96,753	6,996,984	281
7	The Taste of Money	5/17/12	2.40%	50,357	1,131,158	248
8	Madagascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	2.60%	39,738	40,912	186
9	As One	5/3/12	0.80%	19,625	1,856,843	139
10	Inazuma Eleven Go (jp)	5/24/12	0.40%	10,872	81,756	96

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Korean Box Office Update (05/25-05/27)

The Men in Black Score Big After Long Absence

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Men in Black 3 (us)	5/24/12	47.50%	1,064,549	1,210,197	767
2	All About My Wife	5/17/12	24.50%	610,994	1,819,491	537
3	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	10.30%	260,686	6,741,216	367
4	The Taste of Money	5/17/12	7.80%	193,197	951,420	412
5	As One	5/3/12	3.20%	86,339	1,775,535	277
6	Snow White and the Huntsmen (us)	5/30/12	2.90%	71,840	71,840	284
7	Inazuma Eleven Go (jp)	5/24/12	1.50%	40,393	41,668	242
8	Machine Gun Preacher (us)	5/24/12	0.40%	10,771	17,847	140
9	Mirror Mirror (us)	5/3/12	0.40%	10,443	574,969	57
10	A Muse	4/25/12	0.20%	5,498	1,337,811	52

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Korean Cinema News (05/03-05/09, 2012)

UPDATE 1:50pm (GMT+1) - The KOFA Classic Korean Film youtube channel goes live!  More details below.

More developments on upcoming features Mister K and Remember O Goddess this week as well as a strong selection of interviews and a free one-day Korean film seminar in London.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

KOFA's Classic Korean Film Youtube channel goes live!
The Korean Film Archive has launched its much anticipated "Korean Classic Film Theater" Youtube channel which features 70 different hard to find titles, all free and with English subtitles.  The films range from 1949's A Hometown in My Heart to Hong Sang-soo's 1996 debut The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well. Numerous classic Im Kwon-taek, Kim Ki-young and Shin Sang-ok films are featured as well as many of the most important Korean films of the past decades, including Yu Hyun-mok's Aimless Bullet (aka Obaltan, 1961), Park Kwang-su's Chilsu and Mansu (1988), or the original hostess film, Yeongja's Heyday (1976).

I'm dying to get stuck into the many I haven't seen but I highly recommend Im Kwon-taek's Sopyonje (1993), Kim Ki-young' Ieoh Island (aka Iodo, 1977) and the aforementioned Aimless Bullet.  Truly a phenomenal resource from KOFA and cause for celebration for all Korean film fans!

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May 2012 Korean Releases

This monthly features previews the coming month's attractions in Korean cinema.  All of these monthly posts are available in an archive on the Upcoming Releases page.

May 3

As One (aka Korea)

Just Friends

May 10

Du-re Sori Story

I Am

The Strangers

May 17

All About My Wife

Granny Is in 1st Grade

The Taste of Money

May 24

Children of Heaven
Hello!

U.F.O.

May 31

Don't Click

In Another Country
Runway Cop
Still Strange

May TBC

Rosa

Tummy

As One (aka Korea)

Director:  Moon Hyun-sung

Cast:  Ha Ji-won, Bae Doo-na

Synopsis:  As One chronicles the victory of the first inter-Korean team at the 1991 Chiba Worldwide Table Tennis Championships.

Release date:  May 3

There's a lot of buzz surrounding this project, especially with its two big female stars and theme of rapprochement of the divided Korean nations.  It the film clicks with audiences it may be one of the highest-grossing films of the year. 

Just Friends

Director:  Ahn Cheol-ho

Cast:  Oh Yeon-so, Lee Young-hoon

Synopsis:  Just Friends is a romance about an unemployed art school graduate who has recently been dumped but meets an aspiring musician at a concert

Release date:  May 3

I Am.

Director:  Choi Jin-sung

Synopsis:  A documentary of SM Entertainment's recent Madison Square Garden concert.
Release date:  May 10

Du-re Sori Story

Director:  Cho Jung-rae

Screenplay:  Baek Jong-min

Cast:  Kim Seul-gi, Jo Ah-reum, Ham Hyeong-sang, Choi Eun-yeong

Synopsis:  Two friends at the National High School of the Traditional Arts take a special class taught by a teacher with conflicting western influences. The class will compete as a chorus in contest.

Release date: May 10

The Strangers

Director:  Choi Yong-seok

Cast:  Yeo Hyeon-soo, Han Soo-yeon, Kim Joong-ki

Synopsis:  Yeon-hee returns to her hometown following the death of her mother in a fire and there she meets Seok who has lost in father in the same accident.  They bond and attempt to overcome their grief while Yeon-hee revisits the reason she left in the first place.

Release date:  May 10

All About My Wife

Director:  Min Gyoo-dong

Screenplay:  Min Gyoo-dong

Cast:  Im Soo-jeong, Lee Seon-gyoon, Ryoo Seung-yong

Synopsis:  A romantic comedy about a man who, in a bid to cleanly divorce his wife, hires a playboy to seduce his spouse.

Release date:  May 17

The Taste of Money

Director:  Im Sang-soo

Screenwriter:  Im Sang-soo

Cast:  Kim Kang-woo, Kim Hyo-jin, Baek Yoon-shik, Yoon Yeo-joong

Synopsis:  A woman divorces a salaryman and becomes wealthy.  A tale of greed and sex in the upper strata of Korean society

Release date:  May 17

Im Sang-soo's new film wrapped in January and looks to be another fascinating exposé of our darkest desires.  The film will have its world premier at Cannes where it is in the main competition vying for the Palm d'Or.  The Taste of Money will also feature a small role for the founder of koreanfilm.org and MKC contributor Darcy Paquet.

Granny Is in 1st Grade

Director:  Jin Kwang-gyo

Cast:  Kim Jin-goo, Shin Chae-yeon

Synopsis:  A 70-year-old woman loses her son but she can't read the final letter he sent her so her 7-year-old granddaughter teaches her how to read.

Release date:  May 17

Children of Heaven

Director:  Park Heung-shik

Cast:  You Da-in, Park Ji-bin, Kim Bo-ra

Synopsis:  A new teacher begins a three month stint at a school for troubled children.  She hopes to involve some of new students in a talent contest by staging a musical.

Release date:  May 24

U.F.O.

Director:  Kong Quee-hyun

Screenwriter:  Kong Quee-hyun

Cast:  Lee Joo-seung, Kim Chang-hwan, Kim Tae-yoon

Synopsis:  A group of students catch sight of an alien spacecraft and decide to travel to UFO mountain but on the way there they are warned to turn back.

Release date:  May 24

This sci-fi comedy opened last July at the Puchon International Film Festival and has since played at the Digital Seoul Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival.

Hello!

Director:  Lim Tae-hyeong

Cast:  Lee Sang-bong

Synopsis:  Documentary chronicling the lives of 14 blind schoolchildren

Release date:  May 24

In Another Country

Director:  Hong Sang-soo

Screenwriter:  Hong Sang-soo

Cast:  Isabelle Huppert, Yoo Joon-sang, Jeong Yu-mi, Yoon Yeo-jeong, Moon Seong-gun, Kwon Hae-hyo

Release date:  May 31

The new Hong Sang-soo film stars a major French actress and will be premiering in Cannes ahead of its Korean release, not to be missed.

Don't Click

Director:  Kim Tae-kyeong

Screenwriter:  Kim Tae-kyeong

Cast:  Park Bo-young, Joo Won, Kang Byul

Synopsis:  Bizarre events occur after a pair watch a mysterious video.

Release date:  May 31

This sounds like a blatant ripoff of The Ring (1998), given the poor quality of last summer's horrors, I'm not expecting much from this one.  Also, as you'll notice on the poster, Don't Click was scheduled for release last August but got pushed back, never a good sign.

Runway Cop

Director:  Sin Tae-ra

Cast:  Kang Ji-hwan, Sung Yu-ri, Kim Young-kwang, Lee Soo-hyuk

Synopsis:  In order to break a case, a determined detective goes undercover in the fashion world.

Release date:  May 31

Still Strange

Director:  Lee Hong-jae

Screenwriter:  Kim Tae-kyeong

Cast:  Jang Si-won, Kim Soo-woong, Lee So-hee

Synopsis:  An old couple and their grown up children gather during the first New Year's Day following their only son's death.

Release date:  May 31

Rosa

Director:  Maeng Gwan-pyo

Cast:  Ruzmetova Dayana, Jo Ha-seok

Synopsis:  16-year-old Uzbeki ballet dancer Diana loses her chance at a scholarship as the iron curtain rolls back.  She then goes to Korea with a stranger in the hope of following her dreams.

Release date:  May

Tummy

Director:  Park Bo-sang

Cast:  Cheon Ho-jin, Lee Mi-sook, Seo Yoon, Ye Hak-yeong

Synopsis:  A sex comedy about a family's romantic entanglements.
Release date:  May

This film was made in 2008 and is finally seeing the light of day.

Resources:

Asian Wiki
Daum
Han Cinema
KMDb
KOBIS


Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

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