While U.S. movie theaters are largely shutdown, movie goers in South Korea are heading back to theaters:
With several exciting home-grown big-title releases, the South Korean box office is a bright spot amid the grim reality for the hard-hit film industry. Earlier this week, S&P Global Market intelligence and OPUSData numbers showed a 92% shrink in the Asian box office from January to June this year, compared to the first six months of 2019, as reported in Variety.
Invigorating South Korea’s box office at the end of June, zombie thriller #Alive burst onto screens with its timely (and strangely resonant) story of two characters trying to survive a mysterious virus infecting the city’s population. Distributed by Lotte Entertainment, the film starred Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye, and was widely-credited for sparking the domestic box office back to life. It became the first film in South Korea to surpass the one-million admissions mark since February. It has since grossed $13.4 million.
Forbes via a reader tip
You can read more at the link, but the sequel to the zombie flick, Train to Busan, called Peninsula and a North Korea thriller, Steel Rain 2 have further brought the South Korean box office back to life this summer.
I think President Trump’s comments show how issues with South Korea are on the top of his mind:
President Donald Trump is apparently not a fan of ”Parasite,” his biggest complaint being that the movie was made in South Korea.
Trump started talking about the Academy Awards during a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday. Parasite was named best picture, becoming the first non-English-language film to get the top honor.
”What the hell was that all about?” Trump said. ”We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.”
Neon, the U.S. distributor for the subtitled film, shot back on Twitter. ”Understandable. He can’t read,” Neon tweeted.The audience booed when Trump mentioned the Academy Awards and then cheered when he said: ”Can we get like ”Gone with the Wind’ back please? ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ so many great movies.”
Korea Times
Let me translate Trump for people that don’t understand him. It appears he has not even seen the movie; what he is complaining about is that he believes Hollywood should be making better American made movies instead of promoting foreign made movies during the Academy Awards. This is all consistent with Trump’s America first rhetoric he was been advocating for years on.
It was a big night for the Korean film industry as the highly acclaimed movie ‘Parasite’ won four Oscars:
Bong Joon-ho’s sensational black comedy “Parasite” has bagged four Oscar titles, becoming the first non-English language film to win best picture.
At the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday (U.S. local time), Bong’s seventh feature film, a tale of class division, won the ceremony’s highest prize — best picture.
It beat out strong competition from “1917” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” for the win. Other nominees were “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “Little Women,” “Joker,” and “Marriage Story.”
“Parasite” also won best director, best original screenplay and best international feature film. It is South Korea’s first Oscar-nominated film.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but for those that have not seen the movie it is a satire about class struggle in South Korea involving a poor family using illegals ways to work for a rich family. Everything is going fine until an outside person breaks the balance that had been formed between the rich and the poor family. Things then go down hill very quickly.
I found it to be a well acted, filmed, and directed movie, but not one of the best Korean movies I have seen. In fact it is one of the few movies I have watched where I disliked every single character. It is definitely not something I would rush to go watch again. That is why I think this win for ‘Parasite’ had more to do with the weak competition it faced this year, left wing politics that love movies like this, and Hollywood trying to diversify.
But, maybe I am wrong, has anyone else watched the movie and thought this is the best movie they have seen?
Here is some good news for the South Korean film industry:
Bong Joon-ho’s sensation “Parasite” earned six nominations, including best picture, for the upcoming Academy Awards on Monday, becoming the first South Korean movie to compete at the world’s biggest film event.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its final list of nominations for the 2020 Oscars Awards, to be held on Feb. 9.
“Parasite” was up for best picture, best directing, best original screenplay, best international feature film, production design and film editing.
It is the first time that a South Korean-made film has made it to the final nominees list of the Academy Awards.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how domestic streaming companies handle the big global streaming companies entering the Korean market:
The video streaming wars are heating up, as the existing players prepare for new, highly competitive entrants. With Apple and Disney seen coming to Korea in a serious way, Netflix, Wavve and Watcha are digging in and consolidating their positions.
Since Monday, homegrown Wavve has been charging new users to its streaming service only 100 won (9 cents) for the first month. This comes just after a recent offer of 4,000 won for the first three months. Wavve is a joint video-on-demand platform of three terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS.
Netflix will partner with local production houses to increase Korean-language content, while other competitors are beefing up their offerings and providing cinema-level viewing experiences at home.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
The Korean movie Parasite continues to win accolades:
Bong Joon-ho’s black comedy “Parasite” was named best foreign language film at the U.S. Golden Globe Awards on Monday (Korean time).
In a ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, “Parasite” won the honor, outclassing “The Farewell” by Lulu Wang, “Pain and Glory” by Pedro Almodovar, “Les Miserables” by Ladj Ly and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” by Celine Sciamma.
It is the first time that a Korean-made film has won a prize at the accolades given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
It was also nominated for best screenplay and best director at the Golden Globe Awards but failed to win either.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
