[Korea Times] Invite to Shine

Article from The Korea Times

Korean Movies to Shine at International Film Fests

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

“The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” a “kimchi Western” by Kim Jee-woon,
will be the first Korean film to appear at the gala section of the 33rd Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 4-13. / Courtesy of CJ Entertainment

South Korean movies continue to make their way around the globe to vie for prizes and reach a wider audience. Some notable trips to international film festivals include feted director Kim Ki-duk’s latest work “Dream,” the anticipated summer blockbuster “The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” which received rave reviews at the Festival de Cannes in May, and creative animations and documentaries.

[IMAGE] Dir. Kim Ki-Duk

“Dream” (Bimong) by celebrated director Kim Ki-duk will contend for the Golden Shell at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival running Sept. 18-27, the festival announced recently (www.sansebastianfestival.com). It is the only Asian film in the competition pool against five other works. It is Kim’s third work after “3-Iron” and “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.. and Spring” to appear at the event. Kim has won the award for Best Director at Venice (“3-Iron”) and Berlin (“Samaritan Girl”), while “Breath” competed at Cannes.

Starring top Korean actress Lee Na-young and Japanese heartthrob Jo Odagiri, it is about two people connected through dreams, a man who dreams compulsively and a woman who sleepwalks dangerously. Fans can look forward to seeing “Dream” here in the fall.

Kim Jee-woon’s “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” starring top stars Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho and Jung Woo-sung will appear at the 33rd Toronto Film Festival running Sept. 4-13, festival organizers announced Thursday (www.tiff07.ca). This “kimchi Western,” as the Toronto Festival calls it, is the first Korean movie to be featured in the prestigious gala section, which selectively screens 20 “high profile, major impact” films out of some 300 that are invited. The Canadian festival is considered among the top cinema events alongside Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

The action flick’s export to 11 countries has already been sealed, and talks with American and Japanese buyers are currently underway, said the movie’s local publicist. The screening at Toronto, a major playground for the film market, is expected to boost sales. It opens in theaters here July 17.

New ByungHun Photos

Photos from yonhapnews.co.kr via empas.com

[Variety] Summer Countdown

Article from Variety Asia, image from empas.com

Korean industry readies summer B.O. fightback

Written by Han Sunhee

SEOUL — After nearly three months without a local film at the top of the B.O., the Korean film industry is hoping the success of crime pic “Public Enemy Returns” heralds the beginning of a long, hot summer. Directed by reliable helmer Kang Woo-suk, the pic took in $8.82 million from 1.4 million admissions in its four-day opening weekend.

Distributor CJ Entertainment says it now expects “Enemy” to tie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls’ ” record of reaching the two million ticket mark in just eight days of release.

As has been widely reported, local films have had a terrible time at the box office this year. According to multiplex chain CJ CGV, total admissions for local films in the first half of 2008 were 34.1 million or 47% of the entire audience.

For many countries, that would be high, but it’s the lowest number in Korea since the first half of 2001. Since then, Korean films had ruled the charts, securing more than a 50% market share over the last six years.

While some industry commentators suggest the reduction of screen quotas (the number of days per year movie houses have to play Korean movies) is the cause of the downturn, others point to weak infrastructure and low investment returns.

The debate will continue, but it is clear the large number of low-budget films that flowed into theaters in the first half of the year did not connect with auds.

Summer, often the preserve of horror pics, this year sees the return of the big-budget fare to try to win back the public.

The most anticipated film is Korean Western “The Good the Bad the Weird,” which opens July 17. Pic has been slightly re-edited by helmer Kim Ji-woon since its preem in Cannes, and received a PG-13 certificate from the Korea Media Rating Board. Production shingle Barunson is expecting the new rating will help it attract a young public.

The new pic from Lee Jun-ik (helmer of the $60 million-grossing hit “The King and the Clown” and “Radio Star”) is “Sunny,” a $7 million budget Vietnamese war epic that follows a wife in search of her singer husband. Industry-watchers hope Lee’s sensitivity will again pay off for investor and distributor Showbox.

[Korea.net] Hollywood-bound 2008

Our thanks to kdramafanusa for the highlight of article from KOREA.net

2008 Sees Korean Stars Swarm Hollywood

Date: June 28, 2008
by Nigel D’Sa

While Hollywood seems to be gaining ground at the Korean box office in 2008, a growing number of Korean stars are invading Hollywood’s home turf this year, bringing Korean talent into view on the world stage. Local celebrities such as Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Byun-hun, Jung Ji-hoon, Jang Don-kun, and Korean-American Daniel Henney are currently filming or have already wrapped roles in major US studio productions.

Actress Jun, going by her English name Gianna Jun, recently completed the shooting of her lead role in Blood: The Last Vampire, a US – Hong Kong co-production set in the Tokyo of 1970. Jun plays Saya, a vampire working for a covert US government agency that hunts and destroys demons. She is assigned to a military school where she must find out which of her fellow classmates is a demon in disguise.

The English-language horror-thriller will be model-turned-actress Jun’s Hollywood debut. Rising to celebrity status with her 2001 Korean feature My Sassy Girl, Jun’s fame spread throughout Asia and she went on to star in several more features including Windstruck (2004) and Daisy (2006). The highly anticipated Blood is currently in post-production and is slated to be released in June 2009.

Meanwhile, actor and pop-sensation Jung Ji-hoon (a.k.a. Rain) made his Hollywood debut this spring with a supporting role in the Wachowski brothers’ futurist thriller Speed Racer, which crashed and burned at the box office. That hasn’t dampened the energetic performer’s spirits. He is currently filming his lead role in the Wachowski and Joel Silver-produced Ninja Assassin.

Jung plays Raizo, an orphan who leans the Ninja tradition only later to turn his back on it. The film is being directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and is shooting in Berlin, Germany. Jung went through rigorous training to prepare for his role in the martial arts film. The actor is known all over Asia and in the US in his pop-incarnation Rain. He starred in Korean TV drama Full House before making his film debut in director Park Chan-wook’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok in 2006. Ninja Assassin is expected to be ready for release in January 2009.

Top Korean star Lee Byung-hun will take on a role similar to that of his colleagues Jun and Jung. He is currently filming scenes in his Hollywood debut, G.I. Joe, an adaptation of the popular action-hero comic book series. Like Jun in Vampire, his character is a member of an elite US military unit, and like Jung, he will be playing a ninja with a troubled past.

As ‘Storm Shadow’, Lee joins the G.I. Joe team of highly trained recruits, each with his own specialty skill. Their job is to take on an evil and powerful criminal syndicate led by Cobra, a notorious arms dealer. Lee’s character, Storm Shadow, is well known to readers of the comic and was even spun-off into its own series.

Lee is a popular star at home and all across Asia. He has starred in films such as Once in a Summer (2006), Kim Ji-woon’s A Bittersweet Life (2005) and Kim’s upcoming release, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, the must-see ‘oriental western’ of the summer. Lee is also starring in a France-US co-production called I Come With the Rain, by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.

The big-budget G.I. Joe is a Paramount Pictures production and is directed by Stephen Sommers whose previous films include Van Helsing and The Jungle Book. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Rachel Nichols, and Dennis Quaid. It is slated for release in the summer of 2009.

Actor Jang Dong-kun plays a lone assassin of the warrior breed, in his first Hollywood project, Laundry Warrior. The big-budget (US $47 million) fantasy-action feature is a US-Korea-New Zealand co-production.

PREMIERE Star feat. The BAD

Thanks to Ping-bhjwlove.com & Hyc at EverythingLBH for the wonderful sharing

Source: premiere.elle.co.kr

Source: premiere.elle.co.kr

Source of VOD – Premiere The BAD

[Movieweek] 3 ACTORS’ DEEP IMPACT

Thanks to the highlight by PlanetBH0712 & ylin at EverythingLBH, soompi.com

 No. 334 [2008.7.3 - 9]

Source: movieweek.co.kr

[GBW] TIFF 2008 Gala treat!

Update highlighted at KBS World

“The Good, the Bad, the Weird” Invited to Toronto

Highly touted Korean-style western “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” has been officially invited to the Gala Section of the Toronto Film Festival scheduled for September 4th.

It’s worth noting that this Korean film starring three of the nation’s most acclaimed actors will be included in the main section, while “Class,” the winner of Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, and “Gomorrah,” the 2008 Cannes Grand Prize winner, have been invited to the World Cinema Section.

“The Good, the Bad, the Weird” is also the first Korean film to be shown in the Gala Section. Previously, such acclaimed works as “King and the Clown,” “Secret Sunshine,” and “M” had made it to the Toronto Film Festival, but only to the Contemporary World Cinema Section.

The Toronto Film Festival is one of the world’s four most prestigious film festivals, together with the Cannes, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival. Already sold to 11 nations, “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” is very likely to see a greater number of buyers interested in its purchase, thanks to Toronto’s invitation. This exciting western flick will open in theaters on July 17th

TEARS for Textbooks

Update from KBS Global

K-POP Hits to be Featured in Korean Language Textbook in Japan

Japanese entertainment company Avex said it will release a series of educational DVDs entitled “Learning Korean through Songs” featuring 25 music videos of hit K-pop songs.

The songs include TVXQ’s 2004 hit “Hug,” Ahn Jae-wook’s “Friend,” Lee Byung-hun’s “Tears”, BoA’s “No.1″ and SG WannaBe’s “In Life.”

[Korea Herald] No Romance for Summer?

Romance missing from Korean films

Two genres — the melodrama and the romantic comedy — used to do very well at the box office. “200-Pound Beauty” is a case in point. It deals with plastic surgery, but it is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy tradition in which love ultimately conquers all.

But Korean theaters in recent months have had few, if any, offerings that stir people to talk about the triumph of romance. The summer lineup reveals the paucity of romantic flicks.

What happened?

Last week, “Public Enemy Returns,” directed by Kang Woo-suk, rose to the No. 1 slot, offering a much-anticipated reprieve to the protracted slump in the local film industry. But the film, starring Sul Kyoung-gu and Jung Jin-young, does not have any elements that can be categorized as romantic.

“Crossing,” a film about North Korean defectors which is also getting a lot of attention, is about to hit theaters this week, but there is no room in this story for romance.

“The Good, The Bad, The Weird,” a big-budget Korean film that unfolds in Manchuria, is also unlikely to strike a romantic chord with viewers. Although well-known Korean Wave stars Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho and Jung Woo-sung play title roles — a bandit, a train robber and a bounty hunter — and expectations are high that the film will do well, the movie is an action extravaganza that is devoid of the typical romantic plot.

The shortage of films about love might be a result of seasonal fluctuations. During the summer season, a host of big-budget Hollywood blockbusters tends to dominate the theaters, leaving few slots for melodramas and romantic comedy films. But, even considering the seasonal factor, it seems unusual that viewers now have no chance to watch decent romantic features by Korean filmmakers.

Another intriguing trend in the summer season is that most Korean films are led by male stars. “Sunny,” starring the top-rated actress Su Ae, is a welcome exception, but the overriding fact is that most Korean films do not have female actors as the leads these days. Even “Sunny,” which will be released next month, is not exactly a traditional Korean romantic film, since it focuses on the Vietnam War.

[KBS2] GBW fun poster photoshoot!

 

Our gratitude to the highlight & sharing at PlanetBH0712 for this awesome and especially funny clip ^^

KBS2 – Poster shooting at Location BTS

Top actors LBH, SKH & JWS were fooling around at the GBW poster photoshoot! Hopefully we will get some English-subs or translation to share later.