Controversy over racial discrimination in the highly anticipated film ‘Amazon Whal Myung Soo’… box office failure
Re-release of ‘proven films’ to meet increased audience standards
“Even if it is the same movie, the cinematic experience of OTT and theater is different.”
▲Director Todd Haynes’ movie ‘Carol’ is scheduled to be re-released in theaters on the 20th of this month. (CGV Art House)
There is a craze for re-releases in theaters. There are a variety of genres, from Hollywood blockbusters to art films. Experts’ analysis is that the qualitative and quantitative reduction of Korean commercial films coincided with the strategy of theaters to satisfy audiences with diverse tastes.
According to the film industry on the 12th, the number of films being re-released in theaters has been increasing recently, and only this month, films such as ‘The Host’, ‘Tomboy’, and ‘Vengeance is Mine’ visited audiences again.
In addition, ‘The Notebook’, ‘La La Land’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, ‘The Florida Project’, and ‘Begin Again’ are being re-released and are attracting the attention of audiences.
This phenomenon is in line with the recent situation in which young audiences are looking for independent and artistic films with valuable viewing experiences rather than uniform Korean commercial films.
A film industry official said, “Except for ‘Veteran 2’ directed by Ryu Seung-wan in the second half of the year, there are no Korean films that have been successful at the box office. ‘Love in a Big City’ and ‘Ordinary Family’ were ignored by audiences despite their excellent quality. “He pointed out, “Foreign films as well, ‘Joker 2’, which was a highly anticipated film in the second half of the year, failed at the box office.”
▲The highly anticipated film ‘Amazon Whal Myeongsu’ released in the second half of the year on the 30th of last month was embroiled in controversy over racial discrimination and failed at the box office. (Barunson E&A)
He continued, “Recently, ‘Amazon Whal Myeongsu’ starring Ryu Seung-ryong and Jin Seon-gyu was released, but it failed at the box office due to controversy over racism, including the objectification of indigenous people. The reason why a commercial film with a break-even point of 2.5 million was not in line with contemporary sensibilities is “It was a total failure in production, direction, investment and distribution,” he pointed out.
Due to the development of OTT platforms such as Netflix, people are already stopping going to theaters, but the new films being screened are showing lower quality than expected and are not satisfying the audience’s heightened standards and tastes. Meanwhile, theaters are attracting audiences by re-releasing works that have been proven in the past.
CGV team leader Seo Ji-myeong said to this paper, “The movie ‘The Notebook’ was re-released last month to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The re-release is a ‘new, proven work.’ Although it is an old movie, I want to see works that were successful or recognized for their quality in theaters again. “There is a demand for it, so we are mainly re-releasing those films,” he explained.
▲The movie ‘The Notebook’, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, has been re-released and is a box office hit, attracting more than 160,000 viewers in its fourth week of release. (Emu Films, First Run Co., Ltd.)
He continued, “Re-releases cannot be made suddenly. They are organized based on internal viewing data, such as those that are meaningful in terms of time like ‘The Notebook’ or ‘Love Letter’ or ‘Carol’ that are re-released during the winter season.” “As the college entrance exam is approaching, one of the theater’s strategies is to re-release old movies that teenagers or college students might like,” he said.
In fact, ‘The Notebook’ is creating a craze, attracting more than 160,000 viewers by the fourth weekend of its release. It is unusual for a re-released film to attract more than 100,000 viewers.
Film critic Lee Ji-hye said, “Watching the same movie on OTT and watching it in a theater are completely different cinematic experiences,” and added, “After watching a good movie that you missed in the past on a small screen, you want to see it again in the theater.”
He continued, “This is partly because foreign films, including Korean films, have failed at the box office one after another recently. These days, the tastes of audiences have also become more diverse. Rather than blindly watching a new film, they want to see a film that matches their taste in the theater, even if it is a previously released film.” diagnosed.
