Seen in Jeonju

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Korean Box Office: February 4-6

7th February 2011

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The long holiday helped boost theater attendance this past weekend but did not cause any shift at all in the box office ranks from last week.  One of the changes is that the number one movie is now being called Detective K whereas last week I listed it under its romanized Korean title Joseon Myeongtam Jeong.  Also, Rapunzel was able to secure a place for itself at the bottom of the chart even though it has not officially opened yet. That opening is coming this week.  The box office totals here in Jeonju were slightly different than the national totals. Here Pyeongyang Seong  (which, next time I refer to it will be called Battlefield Heroes as it was just assigned an English title as I was preparing this) was in the number 2 spot with 21.6% and Gulliver’s Travels was number 3 with 20.6%.  Listed below are the films opening this coming week.

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1. Igor (us)– d. Anthony Leondis, voiced by John Cusack, Steven Buscemi

2. No Strings Attached (us) — d. Ivan Reitman, starring Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman www.???????.kr

3. O’Horton (norway)– d. Bent Hamer, starring Baard Owe, Girta Norby

4. Paris 36 (fr)– d. Christophe Barratier, starring Gerard Jgnot, Clovis Cornillac

5. Rapunzel (us)– d. Nathan Greno, voiced by Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi www.rapunzelmovie.co.kr

6. Sanctum (us)– d. Allister Grierson, starring Richerd Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield www.sanctum2011.co.kr

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Korean Box Office 2011: January 28-31

31st January 2011

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Large shifts occurred this past weeked many new films hit theaters in time for the Lunar New Year holiday.  Joseon Myeongtam Jeong, Pyeongyang Seong (neither of which have received official English names as of this writing) and Gulliver’s Travels pushed the former number one movie, Glove, down to fourth place. Oddly, there are only two new movies opening this week, neither of them likely to have any influence on the box office at all.  These movies are listed below.

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1. Big Bang Live Concert: Big Show 3 D (kr)– d. Song Seok, starring G. Dragon, T.O.P 

2. The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee (us)– d. Rebecca Millar, starring Robin Wright, Keanu Reeves

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Korean Box Office: January 21-23

23rd January 2011

With the new year, I have decided to change what information I report in these weekly box office posts. Since 2007, I had been including the box office results of Jeonju along with the national totals.  In the past, there was often a significant difference between the two however, more recently, this difference has all but disappeared. By eliminating the Jeonju list, I can expand what information I can show in the limited space I have. Therefore, along with the rank, movie title, percentage of sales in the current week, and total tickets sold to date, I can now add the number of screens, and the opening date of the film for a clearer and more accurate comparison.  The change from week to week is listed last.  I will still mention Jeonju’s box office results from time to time if there is something noticably different from the national trend.  The photo in the background of each chart I post  will continue to be from a still from that week’s number one movie. Below are this weeks results.

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As I have only been back in Korea for two days after a month of travelling, I have not seen any of these films.  I will have to work on that during this week.  Below is a list of other movies that will be in theaters this week.

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1. Election (hk)–d. Johnnie To, starring Tony Leung, Simon Yam.

2. Garfield’s Pet Force (us)– d. Mark Dippe, voiced by Gregg Berger, Cathy Cavadini www.garfield-3D.co.kr

3. Green Hornet (us)– d. Michel Gondry, starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou www.greenhornet.co.kr

4. Gulliver’s Travels (us)– d. Rob Letterman, starring Jack Black, Jason Segel www.gulliver2011.co.kr

5. Joseon Myeongtab (kr)– d. Kim Seok-yoon, starring Kim Myeong-min, Oh Dal-soo  www.tamjung2011.co.kr

6. Pyeongyang Seong (kr)– d. Lee Joon-ik, starring Jeong Jin-yeong, Lee Moon-shin http://comic-battle.co.kr

7. Shanghai (us)– d. Michael Hafstrom, starring John Cusack, Gong Li  http://shanghai2011.co.kr

8. Town (us)– d. Ben Affleck, starring Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall www.thetown.kr

9. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (us)– d. Woody Allen, starring Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins

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Korean Box Office: December 10-12

13th December 2010

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This past weekend saw the third movie of the Chronicles of Narnia series open and take the top spot in the box office. It should enjoy the view there while it can. This coming week sees Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows opening. That is sure to dominate, not only the box office, but most of the screens in Korea.  Icheungui Akdang finally was given an official English title, Villain & Widow, while Kim Jong-wook Chatgi which opened this past weekend will be known as Finding Mr. Destiny.

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1. BRAVO, JAZZ LIFE (kr) – d. Nam Moo-seong, starring Kang Dae-kwon, Lee Pan-geun

2. GELIEBTE CLARA (de)– d. Helena Sanders-Brahms, starring Martina Gedeck, Pascal Greggory

3. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (us)– d. David Yates, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson  www.harrypotter7.kr

4. LAST STATION (de)– d. Michael Hoffman, starring James McAvoy, Helen Mirren www.laststation.co.kr

5. SAMMY’S ADVENTURE (us)– d. Ben Stassen– <Dubbed in Korean> –voiced by Kang Dae-seong (Big Bang), Seol-Ri (fx)  www.sammymovie.co.kr

6. SERIOUS MOONLIGHT (us)– d. Cheryl Hines, starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton

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Korean Box Office: December 3-5

6th December 2010

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A new romantic comedy, which has not yet received an official, international name from KOFIC, dominated the box office. JjeJjehan Romance took in twice the number of audience as the second place film, Warrior’s Way starring one of Korea’s top stars, Jang Dong-geun.  The limited test screening of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third film of the Chronicles of Narnia stories took fifth place. It will receive an official opening this week  and the number of screens it shows on will greatly increase. I fully expect that film to be number one next weekend. Among the other films opening next week, there is an oddity. The K-Pop band 2A.M. has a 3-D concert film being released. This is strange for a number of reasons, one being that I do not recall ever noticing a living band filming a concert for theatrical release before. For video/dvd and tv, yes but not for theaters. The second point I find unusual is that it is in 3D. Keep in mind, this is not a movie with a story, only the concert. Asisde from the light show that probably appears during the concert, what reason is there for making this film three dimensional?  Someone else will have to tell me because I don’t think I will be watching it..or anything else..this weekend. Final exams start next week and I will  be busy preparing them.

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1. Buried (sp)– d. Rodrigo Cortes, starring Ryan Reynolds, Stephen Tobolowsky www.buried.co.kr

2. Hakuna Matata (kr)– d. Lee Chang-gyu <documentary>

3. Kim Jong-wook Chatgi (kr)– d. Jang Yoo-jeong, starring Lee Soo-jeong, Kong Yoo www.firstlove2010.co.kr

4. Nowhere Boy (uk)–d. Sam Wood, starring Aaron Johnson, Thomas Sangster

5. Protege (hk)– d. Tung-shin Lee, starring Andy Lau, Daniel Wu

6. Seoseo Janeun Namu (kr)– d. Song In-seon, starring Song Chang-ui, Seo Ji-hye

7. Tourist (us)– d. Florian von Donnersmark, starring Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie www.tourist2010.co.kr

8. 2AM Show (kr)– d. Jeong Seong-bok, starring Jo Kwon, Lee Chang-min www.livein3d.co.kr

9. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (us)– d. Michael Apted, starring Ben Barnes, Skander Keynes www.narnia3.co.kr

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Korean Box Office: Nov. 26-28

29th November 2010

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1. Dancing Zoo (kr)– d. Kim Hyo-jeong, Park Seong-yong, starring Han Hee-jeong, Mon Goo

2. Flying Butterfly (kr)– d. Jeong Heum-moon, starring Yoon Do-yeon, Park Tae-hee <documentary>

3. Last Exorcism (us)– d. Daniel Stamm, starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell www.exorcism2010.co.kr

4. JjeJjehan Romance (kr)– d. Kim Jeong-hoon, starring Lee Seon-gyun, Choi Kang-hee www.jjejjelove.co.kr

5. Naruto 4 (jp)– d. Masahiko Murata, voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue, Toshiyuki Morikawa

6. Outrage (jp)– d. Takeshi Kitano, starring Takeshi Kitano, Ryu Kase

7. Switch (us)– d. Will Speck, starring Jennifer Anniston, Jason Bateman www.switch2010.co.kr

8. Toilet (jp)– d. Naoko Ogigami, starring Masako Motai, Alex House

9. Warrior’s Way (us)– d. Lee Seung-moo, starring Jang Dong-geon, Kate Bosworth www.ww2010.co.kr

10. What More Do I Want? (it)– d. Silvio Soldini, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher

11. Yeouido (kr)– d. Song Jeong-woo, starring Kim Tae-woo, Park Seong-woong www.yeouido2010.co.kr

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Korean Box Office: Nov. 19-21

22nd November 2010

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Choin’s super-powered action kept this film safely at the top of the box office charts for a second week in a row, taking in more than a third of the ticket sales over the weekend. It’s closest runner up depended on where you live–either Social Network or the Unjust. The Korean film whose title translates as ‘Two Women’ was assigned an English name last week and is now being called Love In Between. It opened at a disappointing 8th though the other new Korean film, Festival, fared much better. This week sees the remake of the Manchu opening as well as actress Song Hye-gyo in an Amercian film, Fetish (although I don’t imagine that it will get much screen time), Song Seung-heon in a Japanese remake of Patrick Swayze’s Ghost and the return of Kim Hae-soo and Han Seok-gyu. Information on these and the other new films being released this week appears below…

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1. Concert (fr/it)– d. Radu Milhaileanu, starring Aleksey Guskov, Melanie Laurent www.theconcert.co.kr

2. Due Date (us)– d. Todd Phillips, starring Robert Downey Jr., Azch Galifianakis www.duedate.kr

3. Fetish (us)– d. Soopum Sohn, starring Song Hye-gyo, Arno Frisch

4. Ghost (jp)– d. Tarou Ohtani, starring Song Seung-heon, Nanako Maisushima

5. Heartbeats (ca)– dXavier Dolan, starring Monica Cokri, Niels Schneider www.heartbeats2010.com

6. Icheunui Akdang (kr)– d. Son Jae-gon, starring Kim Hae-soo, Han Seok-gyu www.2storyhouse.co.kr

7. Manchu (kr)– d. Kim Tae-yong, starring Hyeon Bin, Wei Tang

8. Skyline (us)– d. Greg Strause, starring Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson  www.skyline2010.co.kr

9. There’s to My Misfortune (kr)– d. Han Sang-min, starring Bae Jae-ki, Jeong Jae-shik

10. Woori Mannan Jeok Itnayo (kr)– d. Im Jin-pyeong, starring Park Jae-jeong, Yoon So-yi

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Korean Box Office: November 12-14

15th November 2010

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There is a new number one movie in town this week. Choin soundly beat Unjust, its nearest competitor, for the first rank place, ending the latter’s stay at the top of the box office charts. I find the naming of Choin a little strange. The romanized form of the Korean titles is ChoNeungRyeokJa. Instead of calling the film something like ‘The Telepath’ (which is what it is about), the Korean Film Council is listing the international title as Choin, which I think is unfortunate.  It is going to wind up being called as a single syllable word (like ‘loin’ or ‘groin’ rather than how it is meant to be pronounced as a two-syllable word (Cho-in). Maybe that will change at a later date.

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1. Beck (jp)– d. Yukihiko Tsutsumi, starring Hiro Mizushima, Takeru Satu

2. Brotherhood (us)– d. Will Canon, starring Trevor Morgan, Jon Foster

3. Festival (kr)– d. Lee Hae-yeong, starring Shin Ha-gyun, Uhm Ji-won www.festival2010.co.kr

4. Hero (kr)– d. Kim Hong-ik, starring Kim Hyeong-gyu, Lee Da-in

5. Let Me In (us)– d. Matt Reeves, starring Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee www.letmein.co.kr

6. Passerby #3 (kr)– d. Shin Soo-won, starring Park Han-yeong, Baek So-myeong

7. Saw 3D (us)– d. Kevin Greutert, starring Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes www.saw3d.co.kr

8. Social Network (us)– d. David Fincher, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield www.socialnetwork.co.kr

9. Two Women (kr)– d. Jeong Yoon-soo, starring Shin Eun-kyeong, Jeong Joon-ho www.twowomen2010.co.kr

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Box Office: November 5-7

10th November 2010

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Well, I finally had a chance to put this up.  As I mentioned yesterday when I posted the review of Hearty Paws, I had forgotten to upload this for the past two days and the plates I had made using Photoshop were in my office–so it was late. The top film, Unjust, did not change but there were major changes throughout the rest of the box office as a swarm of new films took control. Red and Bad Couple vied for the second tier with Red coming out on top over the weekend but Bad Couple gathering more of an audience overall when its opening day totals are added in. (The number on the chart above represents the total number of viewers since the films opened–NOT the weekend totals)  Interestingly, the Spanish animation Planet 51 remained in the top ten in Jeonju but ranked twenty-first nationally. 

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1. Choneung Ryeonkja (kr)– d. Kim Min-seok, starring Kang Dong-wan, Ko Soo www.choin2010.co.kr

2. Disappearance of Haruchi Suzumiya (jp)– d. Tatsuya Ishihara voiced by Yuko Goto, Tomokazu Sugita http://huruhi2010.kr

3. Exam (uk)– d. Stuart Hazeldine, starring Natalie Cox, Colin Salmon

4. Rise (us)– d. Sebastian Gutierrez, starring Lucy Liu, Cameron Richardson (opening as Blood Hunter)

5. Secret in their Eyes (ar/sp)– d. Juan Jose Campanella, starring Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil

6. Stool Pigeon (hk)– d. Dante Lam, starring Nicholas Tse, Lunmei Kwai

7. Unstoppable (us)– d. Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine www.foxkorea.co.kr/unstoppable

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Korean Box Office: October 29-31

1st November 2010

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Unjust took the top spot this week and, together with the owl animation Legend of the Guardians, knocked the previous first-ranked movie down to third place. Unjust actors (Rye Seung-beom, Hwang Jeong-min and Yoo Hae-jin) were undoubtedly a big part of the draw to this film as all are extremely talented. The movie opened on about twice the number of screens as Legend of the Guardians, but pulled in 4 times the viewers over the weekend and is well on its way to overtaking Midnight FM’s attendance total despite that film having been number one for the past two weeks. I find it odd that Banga? Banga! is still hanging around and seems on the verge of outlasting Cyrano Agency although their attendance totals cannot compare. Natalie had a poor opening and may not be around a second week as no fewer than ten films are being released this week. Information on these is listed below.

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1. Aftershock (ch)– d. Xiaogang Feng, starring Fan Xu, Jingchu Zhang

2. Boolryang Namnyeo (kr)– d. Shin Geun-ho, starring Im Chang-jeong, Uhm Ji-won www.badcouple.co.kr

3. Boy From Ipanema (kr)– d. Kim Gi-hoon, starring Lee Soo-hyeok, Kim Min-ji

4. Devil (us)– d. John Erick Dowdle, starring Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green www.devil2010.co.kr

5. No Doubt (kr)– d. Park Soo-yeong, starring Lee Jeong-jin, Kim Tae-woo www.nodoubt2010.co.kr

6. Our Happy Ending (kr)– d. Seong Il-seok, starring Choi Moo-in, Han Jae-soo

7. Pamanento Nobara (jp)– Daihachi Yoshida, starring Miho Kanno, Yosuke Eguchi

8. Red (us)– d. Robert Schwentke, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman www.redthemovie.co.kr

9. Rolling Home on a Bull (kr)– d. Im Soon-rye, starring Kong Hy-jin, Kim Yeong-pil www.withbull.co.kr

10. Terra (us)– d. Aristomenis Tsirbas, voiced by Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox www.terra3d.co.kr

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