Lee Byung Hun 이병헌 Byunghun Lee

[Guest valley girl]

The first one is Best Trailer, and the second one is Best Poster

Anyways...

I've just watched Nomnomnom like a week ago, and I think he was the best part of it 8D even better than Jung Woo Sung.. which is surprising, because people LOVED JWS in this movie.

JWS is kind eye candy there not mean the rest casts are not, his body figure made him so popular.

korean has many popular actor with 187 cm and slim too

[rubie]

Unnies,

Any one wants to watch The Good, the Bad and the Weird you can dl here

Thanks joicy-ssi for the highlight of the cool links for GBW. Really appreciate the sharing! ^^

Source: travel.innolife.net

[rubie]

Anyone with more gist to share about this article.. mentions something about BH Entertainment, and as Cynthia posted yersterday.. he's currently in LA.. preparing for an extensive promo? for GI Joe amongst other projects for 2009. However, I don't get the part of CAA/Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise though (whether it's related or not).. as BH isn't with CAA anymore.

Must say that my antenna is sensing a huge STORM coming .. BH always does this.. he is supposedly taking a break and before you know it.. he'll give everyone a big smack of a surprise.

Soooooooo.. anyone with better gist to share? Please?

Top Star, Lee Byung Hun (39) is ready for Hollywood this summer

Source: sportsseoul.com

[rubie]

Long article from dramabeans, for complete images & comments -- please refer the original source, link provided below. Merci.

Drama trends for 2009

January 4th, 2009 // by javabeans

Note: The following is taken from a Korean article, so the opinions therein aren’t necessarily my own. Still, it’s a look into the trends we can expect in the coming year of dramas. (For instance: Not one, but TWO figure-skating dramas?)

2009 looks like a bright new year. This year, there are many dramas to be produced and aired that may capture viewer hearts. Last year, the economic slump and the shrinking of the drama market caused many difficulties for drama production, a number of dramas still drew viewer notice.

Last year, the sageuk, which used to be a sure thing, fell back, and professional-themed series like medical- or broadcast-centered dramas came into the spotlight. Also, daily and weekend dramas that were strongly criticized had high ratings with trite characters, sharp contrasts between good and evil, conventional conflicts, extreme plot setups, and so forth. On top of that, there were many dramas looking to score success featuring top stars that failed.

Furthermore, because of production cost issues, the one-act drama disappeared. Also because of budget difficulties, stars’ fees shrank and kept the drama production system in order.

In the midst of these production difficulties, 2009 has a diverse range of dramas in production. This year, strong women fronting sageuks promise to revive the sageuk genre, and attention is turning to the sports drama, which hasn’t been produced much in recent years due its higher risk of failure.

The profession-centered drama, which started its rise last year, looks to be emphasized this year. Blockbuster dramas featuring top stars draw attention; daily dramas get much criticism but attract middle-aged female viewers; and weekend dramas also look strong in the new year.

Given this landscape, which dramas will draw audiences in the new year?

SAGEUK BOOM FEATURING STRONG WOMEN

KBS’s Cheon-chu Taehu (Empress Cheon-chu), which aired its first episode on January 3, is representative of the female hero sageuk. The drama illuminates the heroine Empress Cheon-chu, the granddaughter of Emperor Taejo, who with General Kang Gam-chan fights Kitan invaders and dreams of a Goryeo nation. Sageuks have not shown women in action scenes in the past, but with Chae Shi-ra in the title role, this drama sets the stage with its strong female hero and emphasis on action. Lee Deok-hwa, Kim Seok-hoon, Kim Ho-jin, and Shin-ae also appear.

MBC’s large-scale sageuk Queen Seon-deok, to air in May, is another historical drama based on a strong woman. Dealing with Queen Seon-deok, who ruled in the Shilla era, the drama shows a girl named Deok-man overcoming all sorts of tribulations to become queen, becoming a model for a female hero in the process. The role of Deok-man has been cast with Lee Yo-won, while Go Hyun-jung has been cast as Mi-shil, a woman of outstanding beauty and ambition.

SBS premieres its Princess Ja Myung Go on February 16, a decidedly female sageuk. Although the story is about Princess Nak-rang and Prince Ho-dong, this sageuk’s “Ja Myung Go” isn’t the drum of lore, but established as Princess Nak-rang’s older sister. Park Min-young, Jung Kyung-ho, Jung Ryeo-won star, and Lee Mi-sook, Moon Sung-geun, Sung Hyun-ah, Jo Mi-ryung, and Lee Won-jong also appear.

In addition to these, MBC premieres its Return of Iljimae on January 21, under PD Hwang In-roi’s delicate direction, which looks like it will showcase an appeal as a different kind of sageuk. This drama is based on the manhwa created by Go Woo-young and stars Jung Il-woo and Yoon Jin-seo.

This may be a promising new subset in the sageuk genre, but I wonder if it’s going to just be another throwaway fad. I have a vague feeling that the “female hero sageuk” may end up a lot like the fusion sageuk — one or two interesting takes on the genre, followed by a bunch of lame imitators.

FLOOD OF SPORTS DRAMAS

2009 presents a new landscape for television dramas with its flood of sports dramas. In the past, the sports drama Last Match (1994), which centered around college basketball players, met with much success, but following it, KBS’s soccer-related Shooting, MBC’s ice-hockey-centered Icing, SBS’s boxing-themed Punch, and SBS’s swimming story of friendship and love in Blue all failed. With its large budgets and production difficulties, it looked as though the sports drama was on its way out.

But this year, viewers will be presented with dramas about figure skating, baseball, golf, and other various sports.

Personally, this category intrigues me the most, and not just because I saw (and tottttallly enjoyed) the ’90s cheesiness of the early Jang Dong-gun hit Last Match (I also saw a few of the failures that followed, like Icing, which was a bad imitation of Last Match on ice.) But perhaps because this genre has lain dormant — not just in kdramas but in U.S. fare to boot — it seems like a refreshing change of pace.

First, while interest is still high in the sport through athlete Kim Yuna’s activities, a figure-skating drama is in production. With PD Lee Yoon-jung of Taereung National Village directing, Triple depicts a love story between an ad agency executive and a figure skater with the rink as the drama’s stage, and singer Min Hyo-rin as the female lead.

Olive Nine is producing a figure-skating drama, Can’t Lose, which deals with young figure-skaters on their path to success.

Not much to say other than: wheeee!

A baseball drama is also in production. Lee Hyun-sae’s manhwa Alien Baseball Team is as popular with young men as ever; the manhwa portrays outsiders who work to succeed in baseball, and a movie was successfully made in 1980, which will now meet audiences as a television

A baseball drama is also in production. Lee Hyun-sae’s manhwa Alien Baseball Team is as popular with young men as ever; the manhwa portrays outsiders who work to succeed in baseball, and a movie was successfully made in 1980, which will now meet audiences as a television drama. Yoon Tae-young takes the role of Oh Hye-sung, and Park Sung-min also stars.

For the first time, a drama is being produced about golf. KBS is preparing a golf drama adapted from Lee Hyun-sae’s manhwa Buddy, which gained popularity through serialization in a newspaper. A golfer risks everything on golf as his only way out of poverty, and a rivalry unfolds between two players as they both head for the international stage.

Not a baseball fan OR a golf fan (but my dad just may find himself in heaven). The first sounds like Mighty Ducks but may be fun depending on the tone it adopts. The second reminds me of Get Karl, although I’ll hold off on making judgments until I see it. With the Korean love of golf (and the success of Koreans on the pro golf circuit), it’s high time someone took the sport into drama territory.

“OCCUPATION” DRAMAS CONTINUE THEIR RISE

Last year, On Air, New Heart, Beethoven Virus, and other profession-based dramas met with favorable response. This year will continue to see more of these types of dramas.

First, there is the fashion-based and Kwon Sang-woo-led Cinderella Man on MBC, which is set to air in May and centers around clothing-obsessed Dongdaemun proprietors and their lives, loves, and successes.

Last year, the novel Style was a bestseller, and now is set for an SBS broadcast, portraying the fashion world through its main character, a female reporter at a fashion magazine.

Recently, medical dramas have received much love from audiences, and more will come this year. So Ji-sub, Shin Hyun-joon, Han Ji-min and other famous stars will be featured in SBS’s Cain & Abel, which premieres on Feburary 18.

IRIS, starring Lee Byung-heon, Kim Tae-hee, and Kim Seung-woo is set in the world of intelligence agents. This type of drama isn’t commonly seen, and takes place in foreign locations, such as the U.S. and Russia, and deals with the agents’ daily lives and loves.

Then there’s Swallow the Sun, called an “All In 2,” which stars Sung Yuri and Ji Sung and depicts young people in Jeju Island who take on a project to turn the location into an international city.

I’m not exactly drawn to the occupation dramas, but some of these sound like potentially awesome campy goodness. For instance: Cinderella Man?? The article doesn’t mention the dual-role that Kwon takes involving two men who look alike, who both happen to work in fashion (one is a CEO, another a struggling designer), who then decide to SWITCH PLACES. Omg, it’s like the ’90s died and went to heaven on my TV.

STAR-DRIVEN BLOCKBUSTER DRAMAS

Lee Byung-heon and Kim Tae-hee in Iris; So Ji-sub and Shin Hyun-joon in Cain & Abel: Many dramas are being produced with top stars. Last year, stars weren’t able to live up to their big names, but this year one wonders if star power will be able to recover.

Golf drama Buddy, with a 20 to 30 billion won investment, secret-agent drama Iris, and other blockbuster-scale dramas also sport huge production budgets.

Indeed, anticipation is mounting as to which of these series will win favor and popularity from audiences this year, revitalize the domestic drama market, and reignite the Hallyu fervor.

Via My Daily, credits to dramabeans.com

[rubie]

I hope it's ok to share.. please let me know if I shouldn't.

As wildly-guessed.. ICWTR may be and likely to be screened at the Berlin 2009 International film festival. But so far, it's not in the official line-up yet.. let's keep ourselves posted on this. Sometimes there could be a last-minute inclusion of new films.

BH is probably back from the US by now, after his year-end vacation plus some GI Joe-related work recently. Hope we will see BH soon.. via IRIS or something .. or at PD Yoon's wedding this coming Sunday, the 11th.

and everyone.. brace yourselves for a really STORMy year to come.. because you will have your boats rocked by the biggest wave. Be warned.. bigtime.

[rubie]

Thanks to the highlight at ALL IN thread by tiki_sg..

ArirangTV is airing the 2003 drama series.. btw, how do we get the ArirangTV channel? Is it by cable or internet-watching?

ArirangTV Viewers

"All In" is going to be the station's 'new' weekend drama, starting from this weekend, 3 January 2009.

Duration : approx 1 hour(?)

Broadcast times (KST) :

Sat / Sun (First Run)

9pm

Sun / Mon (Repeats)

12:30am, 5:30am, 11am & 3pm

[rubie]

Related IRIS/GI Joe mention by the Korea Times.

December 30, 2008

What's on Cultural Horizon in 2009?

By Han Sang-hee

Staff Reporter

The year 2009 is now finally around the corner, and it is about time to prepare for the New Year. The past year was an interesting one, and readers can now preview what is planned in 2009.

Dramas

Historical Dramas on the Rise: The three major networks are planning to air three distinctive historical dramas next year, MBC with "Queen Seondeok," KBS with "Empress Cheonchoo" and SBS with "Jamyeonggo" (working titles).

The three dramas will touch on the lives of powerful women during the period in which the programs are set: the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392), the Silla Kingdom (668-935) and the Goguryeo Kingdom (37 B.C.-A.D.668), respectively.

Starring Ko Hyun-joung and Lee Yo-won, "Queen Seondeok" will carry the story of the first queen to rule during Goryeo, while "Empress Cheonchoo'' will bring back the courageous grand daughter of King Taejo (47-165), played by Chae Si-ra, and her lifelong struggle to protect the country her ancestors built. "Jamyeonggo" is based on the folk tale of princess Nak-rang and Goguryoe's prince Ho-dong, and the relationship between the two royal subjects and Nak-rang's secret sister played by Jung Ryeo-won.

"Empress Cheonchoo" will start airing Jan. 3 and "Jamyeonggo" in February, while "Queen Seondeok" has not confirmed a date for airing.

Hallyu Stars Return to Small Screen: Numerous hallyu stars will return to the small screen next year. Actor So Ji-sub will greet fans through new SBS drama "Cain and Abel" next February. The drama is about the intense relationship between two brothers, one a genius doctor and another outshone by his sibling. "Cain and Abel" will start airing Feb. 19. Kwon Sang-woo will star in "Cinderella Man," a program about a young man's life-changing story, while Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-hee will appear in "IRIS," which is a spin-off of the hit movie "Swiri." Ji Sung and Sung Yu-ri will also return to television through a spin-off of popular drama "ALL IN, "Swallow the Sun" (working title.) The story of an ambitious young man struggling for success will continue with the "Sun," with Ji Sung as the dreamer who strives to make Jeju Island one of the most popular cities in the world. "Cinderella Man" will be aired in April and the "Sun" in June.

Other hallyu stars include Hyun Bin with the drama "Friend: The Untold Story" and Lee Jun-ki with "Invisible War" (working titles).

thanks to leebyunghun.com

Movies

The past year, 2008, was not the best for local movies, but there is hope 2009 will be different. With big directors planning to offer their works, fans will have the chance to re-live the heyday of Korean cinema.

Filmmaker Park Chan-wook will return with his new film "Thirst." The movie is about a priest who becomes a vampire by accident and falls in love with his friend's wife. Aiming to bring a universal film, Park decided not to make any changes in the appearances of characters, like fangs and pale white skin, but focus more on the emotional changes in characters. Starring Song Kang-ho and Shin Ha-kyun, it will be in theaters this April.

Following Park is Bong Jun-ho's thriller "Mother." While many other thriller movies have young male stars, Bong's film will have veteran actress Kim Hae-ja as the main character. Determined to save her son from being framed on a false charge of murder, Kim will play the emotionally strained mother and discover dark secrets along the way. It is slated for release in May.

Choi Dong-hoon, the director who made "Tazza: The High Rollers" and "The Big Swindle," has returned to the Joseon Kingdom era (1392-1910) to bring the film "Jeonwoochi" (working title). Based on the traditional novel "Jeonwoochi Chronicles," the film presents the story of a Joseon period ascetic, who has been trapped inside a painting for 500 years and finds himself released into the modern world. Dubbed as a fantasy comic action film, the movie will star Gang Dong-won as the ascetic and Lim Soo-jung as the heroine. The film will be released in August.

Other local movies include "The Scheme," a thriller about stock analysts starring Park Yong-ha and also "Public Official" (working titles), the Korean version of Hollywood's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," starring Kim Ha-neul and Kang Ji-hwan.

In 2009, the release of highly-anticipated Hollywood films starring some of Korea's favorite celebrities will also come. They include Lee Byung-hun's "G.I.Joe: Rise of the Cobra" in August and Jeon Ji-hyun's "Blood: The Last Vampire" and Rain's "Ninja Assassin" in March.

Credits: sanghee@koreatimes.co.kr

[Guest kimchibabe]

Thanks to the highlight at ALL IN thread by tiki_sg..

ArirangTV is airing the 2003 drama series.. btw, how do we get the ArirangTV channel? Is it by cable or internet-watching?

ArirangTV over here is provided by our local cable company.

Wow, ALL IN, this is so unexpected! This channel usually airs period series so this comes as a surprise. Hope I can follow it through.

[Guest huangsy]

Thanks to the highlight at ALL IN thread by tiki_sg..

ArirangTV is airing the 2003 drama series.. btw, how do we get the ArirangTV channel? Is it by cable or internet-watching?

Anyone with internet access can watch realtime for free at http://www.arirang.co.kr

Registration for ID is free and in English.

Timetable at http://www.arirang.co.kr/Tv/TV_Index.asp?C...Date=2009-01-10

[rubie]

^ Thanks kimchibabe & Huang for the response and cool highlight. It's good to know that our friends in the Philippines could watch Byunghun again.. before IRIS comes along.

Also.. the free Arirang online-viewing is mighty tempting. Only that my dino-pc might not feel like it..

[Guest ellabel]

Happy New Year, HUN-nies!!!

Still trying to recover from sluggishness due to the long holidays here.... Imagine..... not working for 11 days straight (Dec. 25 - Jan. 4)... it was utter bliss!!! LOL.... the only kink is that i was not able to log-in too much in soompi... So sorry my dear hunnie sistahs for not being able to greet you a merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous new year. Mianneh! :blush:

Eyyyy!!! Welcome to the newbies at the panda forest.... nabi, janie-hunnie and 2uss. Hope to see you here often. Share anything and everything LBH.

FINALLY!!!!

News came out in our local paper that ICWTR will finally be coming out this year in the States. When it gets shown there it will only take a week probably till it debuts here!!!!! No final date stated but at least...

I intend to watch it over and over. This is going to be my second BH film to view on the big screen. Gosh, I feel like doing a triple sommersault....yahooooo!!!!

Hmmmm...... i really wish it ICWTR will also be shown here in the Phils. I guess having Compostela Valley as one of the shooting site should earn us a screening, right? It wud be a thrill to see BH on the big screen again. I've seen him in JSA only during Cinemanila FF.

ps: I just realized in JWS' profile listed by Artist View.. it stated that he acted in BEAUTIFUL MY LADY. Now.. which one was him in BML? I watched the series once and cried my heart out but I don't remember JWS or maybe I just didn't recognize him. Oopsie. All I know.. there was Song Seung Hun, one of his debut 'baddie' roles..and of course, Lee Byunghun-ssi with Shim Eun Ha in this classic tearjerker.

Can anyone enlighten the always blurr rubie.. lee.. :blush:

Didnt BH and JWS starred together with LYA as siblings in a drama? I forgot the title tho. Was it the Legend of the Car God? I know BH was into racing there. Sorry, I've not finished the drama up to now.

Thanks to the highlight at ALL IN thread by tiki_sg..

ArirangTV is airing the 2003 drama series.. btw, how do we get the ArirangTV channel? Is it by cable or internet-watching?

What a coincidence! My officemate just mentioned to me that All-in is being shown in Arirang TV just this morning. She loves it so she is watching it again for the nth time.

rubes sis, Arirang TV is a cable channel here.

OMG!!! Those Elle sekshi pics of LBH are awesome!!! *fansself*

Chocolate washboard abs!!! YUMMY to the max!!!

Btw, I've seen GBW already during the long holidays.

It was a wonderful action movie, excellently crafted by the innovative KJW.

LBH and SKH's acting were superb. I cant imagine anybody else doing their respective roles. They absolutely gave a truly magnificent take on their characters. BH, as always, gives a certain spunk to his character. He always, always surprise me by giving a little bit more than what is expected. In fairness, JWS is delish in the movie. He's a dashingly rugged cowboy. Cinematography is flawless.

Btw, seeing BH's sekshi bod made me drop my jaw. He's lean and mean there. Just love BH.

[rubie]

^ That is so awesome Ella-hunnie sis, always love reading fans' thoughts about BH movies and GBW especially. Wonder when I'll be able to feast my eyes on that abs..

Thanks so much for the cool sharing. Mwah!

Didnt BH and JWS starred together with LYA as siblings in a drama? I forgot the title tho. Was it the Legend of the Car God? I know BH was into racing there. Sorry, I've not finished the drama up to now.

Yup.. that's the one, LBH-LYA-JWS were siblings in 'Legend of Car God' or another title that Artist View had stated 'Asphalt Man' which came out before BML. Even though I believe that JWS had done a bit of drama series before in the 90s.. only those two are mentioned by Artist View. But I don't remember where and when he was featured in BML/Beautiful She. Not that I would remember every detail of it except for you-know-who.. :blush: as I had only watched it once.

Of course.. I still REFUSE to watch the ending scene of BML.

[rubie]

Thanks to Mark Russell

Sunday, January 04, 2009

2008 Anti-Wrap-up (A Wrap-Down?)

Hrm... End of the year. I guess I am supposed to offer some sort of wrap-up of 2008. Or top-whatever lists. Or some sort of words of wisdom.

Too bad I don't really have anything like that. At least nothing earth-shattering or brilliant or controversial.

The movies had their worst year in quite a while, with Korean films dropping to their lowest level of support since 2002 or so (still waiting on the final figures). THE CHASER was probably my favorite film of the year, although it was more of a B+ than an A. THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD was fun but not great (and a little shaky in spots). Hong Sang-soo's and Kim Ki-duk's latests were duds. Most everything else felt... well, typical. Some good, some bad (some terrible)... but nothing really weird. Nothing surprising. Artistically, things are in a bit of rut.

But despite their money problems, the fact is attendance is still way up from what it was 10 years ago, new movie theaters are still being built. And, most importantly, good films are still being made. Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook have their new films coming soon. And there are a lot of really interesting, big projects in the works. Sorry I cannot talk about a couple of the more fun ones I know. But things like the cgi animation of Robot Taekwon V or Bong Joon-ho's Snow Train are just way too cool. Certainly Hollywood's interest in Korea is bigger than ever. And I would not overlook the behind-the-scenes stuff going on with China and Japan, either.

People claim that financing is so tough, but last year saw over 100 films released -- still way more than a few years ago, and probably more than is healthy. Yes, some previously popular sources of financing have dried up. But most of them probably were not so good anyhow, and the industry has a whole is stronger without it. Stupid money investing in bad movies helps almost no one (except the crew members, who could use all the help they can get).

The music industry has, for the most part, completely adjusted to the digital age. I don't see anyone seriously expecting CD sales to recover any time soon. Now the business is more about all-round celebrities, with money coming from a hundred sources aside from CD sales. Kind of sucks for the indie artists... But then, it always did for them.

The new system just highlights how hollow the business model is for real, live bands. The fact that there are more and better indie bands in Korea than any time I can remember, despite the end of CD sales, indicates to me that something very different drives music. Who knows, maybe with a little luck and hard work, the live music scene might get its act together in 2009 and try to present something to people that the pop music industry is not supplying.

(Since I am not much of a K-pop guy, I will refrain from commenting on the music itself this year, aside from saying it seems pretty much the same as always. But as I said before, my choice for most interesting CDs of the year is posted over at London Korean Links).

Korean TV continues to move toward independent productions. Lee Byung-hun has his IRIS series coming. Bae Young-joon has an interesting new project on the way (which I guess is not necessarily a TV thing... not sure what it is from that article, but I assume it will have a TV angle) (Taewangsasinggi vs. the Wondergirls?).

I guess if I were to summarize 2008, we are in a period of change... but then, aren't we always? Internationalization is growing ever more important (but again, not really an original insight). I am not saying the stories here are uninteresting... It is just that I have been talking about them all year. It may be the end of a calendar year, but it does not feel like any kind of natural break in the Korean entertainment scene. Maybe by later in 2009 we will have a better idea what the next big things are.

Posted by Mark Russell at 11:01 PM at koreapopwars.com

[rubie]

Has the Discovery Channel's Seoul Savvy program been aired in Australia and New Zealand? Aish.. forgot to ask jicks about this..

Heard from the grapevine that ICWTR may be screened earlier than that i.e. at some prestigious upcoming European film festivals (I am sure you can guess which that is?) and IRIS will also start filming earlier than expected at an overseas location.....also be prepared for a big scale event sometime soon.

Cynthia.. this upcoming big-scale event.. .. is it related to IRIS or ICWTR or GI Joe.. like a press conference or is it something else..

like.. completely different and totally unexpected.. something .. something..

[Guest Sung-ja e Seiko]

Hi everyone,

Sorry to be late but Happy New Year to all.

May year 2009 will be happy, healthy and prosperous one for you and your family.

There will be many exciting things waiting for us this year.

To start with, be ready for the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) scheduled Feb 5-15 (Although ICWR is not yet on the list ..… keep my fingers crossed. They have already announced the opening film and 10 films for the competition, more films will be announced soon. )

http://www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html

And wonder, if BH attends the wedding for P.D. Mr. Yoon on this coming Sunday.

Anyone with internet access can watch realtime for free at http://www.arirang.co.kr

Registration for ID is free and in English.

Timetable at http://www.arirang.co.kr/Tv/TV_Index.asp?C...Date=2009-01-10

huangsy

Thank you for the great info.

I’ve registered and now I can watch TV without any trouble via Internet.

Great

[rubie]

And wonder, if BH attends the wedding for P.D. Mr. Yoon on this coming Sunday.

I hope he does. Can't wait to see BH again.. the last time he made an appearance was Dec 16 and we didn't hear from him after that. And of course.. he has a soft spot for weddings.. I think.. :blush:

Byunghun-ssi must be all refreshed after his working vacation in the U.S. recently.

[rubie]

Movie update/GBW mention from yonhapnews.co.kr

January 7, 2009

Domestic movies see worst sales in 8 years: report

SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- Hit by the economic downturn and a deluge of foreign films, South Korean movies saw their worst sales in eight years in 2008, a local report said Wednesday.

Domestic movies took up 42.5 percent of the film market last year, plunging by more than 20 percent from the previous year, according to CJ Entertainment, South Korea's largest film distributor. The market share of domestic movies has been steadily increasing since 2002, hitting a record-high 64.9 percent in 2006.

Only eight local movies succeeded in drawing more than 2 million viewers last year, a sharp decrease from the 16 and 10 movies that gathered such numbers in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

The number of overall moviegoers in 2008 decreased by 5 percent from 2007 and 10.5 percent from 2006, the report added.

The Korean movie "The Good, the Bad, the Weird," which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and was well received by overseas audiences, drew the largest audience of 6.8 million, while the Hollywood film "Mama Mia!" drew 4.6 million people.

Credits: hayney@yna.co.kr

[rubie]

There will be many exciting things waiting for us this year.

To start with, be ready for the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) scheduled Feb 5-15 (Although ICWR is not yet on the list ..… keep my fingers crossed. They have already announced the opening film and 10 films for the competition, more films will be announced soon. )

Phew! For a moment there.. I thought there'll be a clash if ICWTR is indeed going to be screened at Berlinale.. as I heard there's also a fanmeet that will take place in Tokyo this February 28th. I think this is what Cynthia was hinting.. right, Sung-ja?

Where, what and who is Byunghun-ssi doing/with these days? If only we have some 'schedule' of some sort.. at this point, just anything would do. I'm giving up (yupyup! spur of the moment decision ) on the comeback of BH Entertainment website.. don't think it'll ever come up at all. What are the odds, anyway. Probably had to check his page at Artist View instead.

No doubt that 2009 will be an interesting year for BH and us. However.. my anxiety is now turning into much apprehension instead. As much as I anticipate the STORM coming.. I actually fear my panda heart when it finally appear at our door.

[Guest ellabel]

^ That is so awesome Ella-hunnie sis, always love reading fans' thoughts about BH movies and GBW especially. Wonder when I'll be able to feast my eyes on that abs..

Thanks so much for the cool sharing. Mwah!

Yup.. that's the one, LBH-LYA-JWS were siblings in 'Legend of Car God' or another title that Artist View had stated 'Asphalt Man' which came out before BML. Even though I believe that JWS had done a bit of drama series before in the 90s.. only those two are mentioned by Artist View. But I don't remember where and when he was featured in BML/Beautiful She. Not that I would remember every detail of it except for you-know-who.. :blush: as I had only watched it once.

Of course.. I still REFUSE to watch the ending scene of BML.

You're always welcome, hunnie sis.

You know, I agree with Mark Russel that GBW is not flawless per se. However, what it lack in story depth, it more than compensate with the slambang action and magnificent view. Oh well, just seeing those 3 actors in one movie is more than enough to keep me glued to the screen.

Hahaha!!! No prize in guessing who our dear rubie remembers in BML.

Gosh!! Go finish the drama rubes and watch the ending. Get it done and over with.

I cant help u when it comes to BML as that is one drama of BH that did not reach Phil soil. I guess no english subs.

[Guest huangsy]

huangsy

Thank you for the great info.

I’ve registered and now I can watch TV without any trouble via Internet.

Great

Dont mention it.

Since you now have an ID, watch other programs too, e.g. Let's Speak Korean & Traveler's Korean.