Comedian-turned-film-director Shim Hyung-rae is in the international spotlight.
The New York Times has covered his latest film, Dragon Wars ("D-War"), which will debut in the United States this Friday on 2-thousand screens.
The newspaper noted the investment Shim drew from corporate titans to rustle up a 30 million U.S. dollar budget as the movie was made in English, stamping out its chances for government support.
However, the Times also quoted early reviews which lamented its quote "Z-grade script" despite praise-worthy visual effects.
The biggest Korean success in the U.S. to date has been "The Host" with 2.3 million dollars in ticket sales last year.