Each summer is a battle at the box office in Korea between local films and Hollywood.
However, following Korea's strength in recent years, US imports have taken the market by
storm this season, churning out hit after hit as no true Korean hits has emerged for
months.
Here to make sense of the local industry's recent drought and the complicated standoff
at the box office is our very own Pierce Conran.
So, Pierce... after a string of highs, the Korean film industry has taken a downturn
this year.
Things got a little more heated this week when 20th Century Fox moved up the release
date of its latest blockbuster, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Local filmmakers are up in arms about the sudden change as they scramble to adjust their
own strategies accordingly.
Is this bad news for business?
It's never good to see business go down.
However, whereas local filmmakers used to be quite shaken whenever things took a turn
for the worse, the industry seems to be taking the
current soft returns in its stride.
Business is bound to pick up in a few weeks in the peak summer season when the year's
biggest local releases should restore some confidence.
After so much recent growth in a market that is more or less saturated, the
natural ebbs and flows of the industry can brings things down from time to time.
That said, do you think local filmmakers will have any takeaways from recent results?
Personally, I worry that there have been too many high budget films this year.
The industry can only sustain so many and it feels that even with a small increase over
last year, returns on investment would have been slim if not non-existent.
There's also the issue of studio battling it out with similar fare that released within
the same timeframe.
Early summer was dominated by action noir, and after two hits , almost everything else
has failed to hit the mark.
The same may happen with all the high season's period offerings.
So what can you tell us about this dilemma with local distributors?
20th Century Fox moved up its summer tentpole DAWN OF THE PLANET OF
THE APES from the 16th to the 10th, causing havoc for films already planned for this week.
Box office scheduling is very sensitive and filmmakers are very worried about seeing their
theater counts slashed by the unexpected change.
What is on offer for viewers at the moment?
Well there's no question that the biggest film at the moment is the new blockbuster
DAWN ON THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Buzz is high, reviews are very strong and the last installment was very successful here.
On the Korean side there's CONFESSIONS, a terrific noir that exceeds expectation every
way, alas there's so little buzz surrounding it that it may vanish without a trace before
it really gets going.
On the local side, thriller THE DIVINE MOVE has also been doing well following a strong
debut last week.
And what are the films that might put Korea back on top at its own box office?
The summer holiday season in Korea, which encompasses the hottest few weeks at the very
end of July and beginning of August, draws the biggest crowds of the year and local films
have been particularly dominant during this time.
Four major local films will be released back to back starting on the 23rd.
Three are period films and all of them are big-budget event pictures designed to draw
audiences into thrilling landscapes, epic stories and gripping emotions.
It's not a question of if Korea will win, it's by how much?