Well, Bong Joon-ho’s THE HOST finally was released last Thursday, and now its opening box office figures are in. And we have a new record holder. Weighing in at 2.6 million tickets sold and hailing from parts unknown, the biggest opening film in Korean history is — THE HOST.
Bong’s film sold an incredible 2.6 million tickets in its first three days, easily kicking the ass of the previous record holder, TAEGUKGI (1.78 million attendance). That works out to around $16 million or so in its first three days — not bad for a film that cost $11 million (and that has already nearly broken even thanks to international sales). It also set a record for number of screens, with 620 of Korea’s 1650 movie screens hosting THE HOST… but considering 69.8% of all tickets sold last weekend went to the creature feature, it certainly justified that wide release.
The question now, is how well it will sustain. After all, HANBANDO had a very strong opening of 1.6 million tickets sold a couple of weeks ago, but it has since leveled off (due to its intense suckiness), with 3.3 million after three weeks of release. TYPHOON similarly died quickly. But THE HOST is getting pretty strong responses in most online polls, so things are looking pretty good for this monster.
If you do not live in Korea, you can catch THE HOST beginning Sept. 2 in Japan, and some time in October in the United States.
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13 Comments
Funny thing, I read in one of the papers that “The Host,” “Hanbando” and “Fly Daddy” would account for 80 percent of Korea’s screens once “Fly Daddy” debuts on Thursday. Nice to see all that crying from Korean filmmakers about “diversity” wasn’t just talk…
Well, to be fair, it was the filmMAKERS who were doing most of the crying. I did not see any exhibitors attending any of the screen-quota rallies. Exhibitors love it was everybody goes to see the same movie in droves. Much less work for them. I wonder how many people bothered to go to the Japanese film festival at Sponge’s Jongno theater a couple of weeks ago.
> “The Host,” “Hanbando” and “Fly Daddy” would account for 80 percent of Korea’s screens
Wow, that is plenty bipolar. One film is a histrionic rant against Japan, one film was made with 50% of its funds from Japan, and the third film (Fly Daddy) is a remake of a Japanese movie.
Perhaps a follow-up with the media expert is in order, to find out if he greatly underestimated the draw of the anti-American angle.
This bit in the Korea Times seems to imply that role of the US as the boogeyman is a significant part of the film, despite protestations to the contrary from several on this site.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpag.....910970.htm
I can catch it in Japan, but I doubt I will be able to understand anything (subtitles).
>Wow, that is plenty bipolar. One film is a histrionic rant against Japan, one film was made with 50% of its funds from Japan, and the third film (Fly Daddy) is a remake of a Japanese movie.
Poetic justice, I’d say.
[From above]
In the film’s prologue, a high-ranking U.S. officer oversees the illegal dumping of toxic chemicals into the Han River, and it is not only a hint to how the mutant is born but also a criticism of the real accident in 2000.
======================
Oh, you mean when 80 liters (21 gallons) of formaldehyde were dumped in the Han in 2000? I am sure that that was the largest discharge of chemicals ever to hit the Han since the Korean War. I am sure no Korean company has ever dumped anything toxic in the Han in all those years.
Hypocrites.
Well, yes, Koreans have been dumping toxic waste into the Han River for many years. But the Korean’s toxic waste only killed the fish and other marine life. Only the US military’s toxic waste has that special ability to create dangerous, mutated creatures that come in contact with it.
In hollywood,only the french nuclear testing can create Godzilla.
besides the opening scene, i thought the movie was well made and very entertaining. i’m not saying this movie does not deserve certain criticism, because it does, but in terms of getting into deeper meaning, i think the hollywood left does more to harm the image of the us than this movie.
besides the opening scene, i thought the movie was well made and very entertaining.
I agree. The opening scene is very clumsy, much like the “Sir, there may be inhabited villages in the area you plan to bomb” scenes in Welcome to Dongmakgol. I could care less if the USFK are ‘blamed’ for the creature, but it would have been better if the scene hadn’t been so poorly written. Despite the complaints about it being “in the very first scene!” by the end of the movie you’ve forgotten all about the beginning of the film, and remember instead the thrills and chills created by the monster, and the actions of a family. Perhaps the reason Haisan and Metropolitician tried to ‘downplay’ the anti-American ‘angle’ and stress the dramatic aspects of the film (and its skewering of certain aspects of Korean society) was that they had, y’know, seen the movie - unlike most of the people criticizing it.
Perhaps a follow-up with the media expert is in order, to find out if he greatly underestimated the draw of the anti-American angle.
Right. When that scene at the beginning finished, people walked out of the theatre in droves. After that it was clear that the recent nonstop marketing of a film by a well known director, with top actors, a scary looking monster, well done special fx, and good reviews at Cannes had little to do with drawing people into the theatre. They just wanted to see 3 minutes of a poor Korean underling getting ordered around by his nasty American superior so they could get their victimization fix for the week.
Would I be counted around 10,000,000th viewer if I could watch it in 11 days? It is definitely one of priority To Do list on my Holiday to Seoul.
I noticed that a small group of pro-North Korea students have targeted theatres that show this film to hand out their material.
I saw the film with the wife last night. It’s a B movie. The opening scene with the bossy and uncaring American is silly and an obvious dig at the USFK’s prior incident of the KOREAN contractor who dumped chemicals that ended up in the Han river. Overall, the movie is not much better than Korea’s previous entry into bigger budget monster movies, Yonggary.