[HanCinema's Digest] Cinema Snippets

Published on 2017/08/27

Ryoo Seung-wan says "The Battleship Island" took four years to research and produce, KOBIZ's new infographic ranks the top animations of the summer, Adam Hartzell investigates the history of Korean baseball films for KoreanFilm.org, and can we expect to see more sequels of Korean films in the future?

""The Battleship Island" took 4 years to research, shoot"

Director Ryoo Seung-wan's historical action epic "The Battleship Island" (starring Hwang Jung-min, So Ji-sub, Song Joong-ki and Lee Jung-hyun) was released late July and grossed $44.7 million through 6.5 million admissions (the fourth highest-grossing film of the year). In an interview with The Korea Herald, Ryoo revealed the film - which "tells the story of three men staging an escape from a labour camp with 400 fellow Korean prisoners during the Japanese colonial era" - took four years to research and shoot. The film took $26.4 million to produce.

…READ ON THE NEW PAPER

"The Vacation is Over"

KOBIZ's Cho Meanjune notes the top ten animations of the summer in one slick infographic. Topping the list was Illumination Entertainment's "Despicable Me 3" with just over 3 million admissions, followed, some way off, by the third instalment in the popular "Cars" series on 486,989. "Despicable Me 3" was produced for $80 million and has grossed nearly a billion worldwide.

…READ ON KOBIZ

"Taking in a Few South Korean Baseball Films"

"My interest in sports films lies in the stories they enable a filmmaker to tell", writes Adam Hartzell for KoreanFilm.org. In this post, Adam explores a number of Korean baseball films and offers some insightful commentary on their themes and the context in which they arose: "The most distinguishing element of Korean baseball is the level of political involvement".

…READ ON KOREAN FILM

"Korea, The Final Frontier for Original Cinema"

According to Pierce Conran, a film critic and journalist, South Korea's local industry may be set to take a profitable turn towards sequels following the country's continued support for local films. "While Korea's top grossing films may not be numbered or updates on past versions", writes Pierce, "many of them tap into a similar sense of familiarity, either as tales navigating important moments of Korean history or as variations on genres that have found success elsewhere first". What do you think about the prospects of more sequels in Korea? Let us know your favourites and thoughts in the comment section below…

…READ ON KOBIZ