2012 is still doing quite well here in Korea where it has remained at the top of the box office charts for the past three weeks.  Jeong “Rain” Ji-hoon must be feeling satisfied that his film landed at number two despite some heavy competition, not only from 2012, but also from Hong’s Family Business.  I have to wonder a little about the distributors of Christmas Carol.  True, I have read absolutely horrible things about that movie but, even so, I am sure they could have done a little better if they had opened a little closer to Christmas. NOBODY (except the Baskin Robbins tv ads) is thinking about Christmas at this point.  There is no ‘Black Friday’ here where people suddenly start Christmas shopping following the US Thanksgiving.

New Moon had a rather large test screening last weekend.  It opened on four dozen screens which is about 4 times more than usual tests.  It officially opens this coming weekend with the other films listed below. There are several interesting films opening including Song Il-gon’s new movie Dance of Time. Because it is a documentary, I do not expect it to have much impact on the box office howeve I expect it to be quite good.

A.  After the Banquet (kr)– d. Kim Yoon-cheol, starring Shin Seong-woon, Ye Ji-woon http://cafe.naver.com/telecine7

B. Book of Blood (uk)– d. John Harrison, starring Sophie Ward, Jonas Armstrong

C. Countess (ger)– d. Julie Delpy, starring Julie Stelpy, William Hurt http://blog.naver.com/2009countess.do

D. Dance of Time (kr)– d. Song Il-gon, starring Bang Joon-seok, Chae Soo-jin <documentary>

E. Dread (uk)– d. Anthony DiBlasi, starring Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Evans

F. Evangelion 2.0 (jp)– d. Masayuki, starring Mejumi Ogata, Kotono Mitsuishi http://cafe.naver.com/eva2008

G. Into Great Silence (fr)– d. Philip Groning, starring Philip Groning, Michael Busch http://blog.naver.com/greatsilence

H. Julie (fr)– d. Erick Zonca, starring Tilda Swinton, Saul Runinek

I. Matrimony (ch)– d. Hua Tao Teng, starring Leon Lai, Rene Liu Re Ying

J. New Moon (us)– d. Chris Weitz, starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart www.newmoon2009.co.kr

K. Secret (kr)– d. Yoon Jae-goo, starring Cha Seung-won, Song Yoon-ah www.secret2009.co.kr