The warm welcome in theaters that was expected after the 10 million box office hit of the movie ‘Spring in Seoul’ did not last long. As of the 27th, the cumulative number of viewers for the second part of ‘Noryang: Sea of Death’ and ‘Alien + Humans’, which attracted attention even before its release, was 4.54 million (hereinafter based on the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network for movie theater admissions) and 1.25 million, respectively. Compared to the high expectations for both films, the results were somewhat disappointing.
It's cold again in theaters. Major domestic distributors decided to release three small and medium-sized films instead of blockbuster films targeting the holiday season. Even during the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on February 9, the peak season seems to have become even more meaningless in that there has been no news of a major release.
CJ ENM presents ‘Dog Days’, produced by JK Film and starring Yoon Yeo-jeong and Yoo Hae-jin. Lotte Entertainment will release ‘Picnic’ starring Na Moon-hee, Kim Young-ok, and Park Geun-hyung, and Plus M Entertainment, which achieved success with ‘Spring in Seoul’ last year, will release ‘Deadman’ starring Cho Jin-woong and Kim Hee-ae. The release date is February 7th.
‘Dog Days’ is a movie about successful architects, MZ riders, single men and women, and new parents, who are lonely whether they are alone or together, and how each day changes when they meet a special best friend. It is a multi-cast work that includes Yoon Yeo-jeong, Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Yun-jin, Jeong Sung-hwa, Kim Seo-hyung, Daniel Henney, Lee Hyun-woo, Tang Jun-sang, and Yoon Chae-na. It was produced by JK Film, which has left behind hit films such as ‘Haeundae’, ‘Ode to My Father’, ‘Harmony’, ‘Confidential Assignment’ series, and ‘Hero’.
‘Picnic’ is a film about two friends, best friends and in-laws, who travel to their hometown of Namhae together for the first time in 60 years and reconnect with their sixteen-year-old memories. It is a new work by director Kim Yong-gyun of ‘Wani and Jun-ha’. Since the preview, the movie has received a lot of positive reviews as it is full of laughter and emotion, raising expectations.
‘Deadman’ is a crime chase drama that is different from ‘Dog Days’ and ‘Picnic’ with strong elements of laughter, emotion, humanism, and drama. It is a movie with a unique subject matter called ‘Baji Boss’. It tells the story of an ace of the so-called ‘Baji Boss’ world who makes money by living up to his name, but after being falsely accused of embezzling 100 billion won and ending up living as a dead person, he sets out to track down people who are entangled with just one name and to regain the life that was stolen from them. Draw a story. A media distribution preview is scheduled for the 29th.
The net production costs excluding P&A costs for ‘Dog Days’, ‘Picnic’, and ‘Deadman’ are KRW 8.2 billion, KRW 1.2 billion, and KRW 7.5 billion, respectively, and the break-even points are KRW 2 million, KRW 250,000, and KRW 1.8 million, respectively. It is relatively smaller in scale than works with a production cost of more than 10 billion won, such as ‘Ghost’ and ‘Negotiation’, which were released during the Lunar New Year holiday last year, and ‘Dr. Chun’s Exorcism Lab: Secrets of the Snow Scene’ and ‘1947 Boston’, which were released during the Chuseok holiday.
As for foreign films, ‘Argyle’, a new film from director Matthew Vaughn, who directed the ‘Kingsman’ series, will be released. ‘Argyle’ is an action blockbuster film in which writer ‘Ellie’, who becomes the target of spies around the world when her spy novel becomes reality, writes the next chapter of the novel to escape the crisis and visits the legendary agent ‘Argyle’ in reality.
Above all, ‘Argyle’ is raising expectations as it is a new work by director Matthew Vaughn, who showed original spy action in the ‘Kingsman’ series. ‘Kingsman: The Secret Agent’ was a box office success, attracting 6.12 million viewers when it was released in 2015. Although the box office success and reviews of ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ and ‘Kingsman: The First Agent’ fell short of this, they were series that had a significant fandom in Korea.
‘Argyle’ is expected to captivate domestic fans with its stylish production that highlights the B-class emotion unique to ‘Kingsman’. It is an entertaining movie that can be enjoyed pleasantly, and it is evaluated as interesting even with the continuous twists, but the long running time of 139 minutes and the directing, which can be seen as overkill, may be different depending on one's taste.
The disappearance of domestic masterpieces from theaters during the Lunar New Year has also been predicted. Film industry officials noted that this Lunar New Year holiday is not long because it is a four-day weekend, and that after COVID-19, the pattern of showing no significant difference between peak season and off-peak season has become more clear and continues. “Regardless of the timing of release, works that are expected to do well have succeeded at the box office,” he said. “Distribution methods are also changing in line with changes and trends in the market, which have made it difficult to predict box office success. There is an atmosphere in which there is no need to necessarily release in time for the holidays.” .
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