[Movie 2017] Battleship Island 군함도

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July 27, 2017

'The Battleship Island' sets new opening day box-office record

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," a South Korean World War II blockbuster film, set a new opening day record at the Korean box office, attracting more than 970,000 moviegoers, data showed Thursday.

The action drama movie starring Song Joong-ki, So Ji-sub and Hwang Jung-min was seen by 970,352 on Wednesday, according to the computerized tally from the Korean Film Council. The film accounted for 71.4 percent of all ticket sales.

Factoring in special pre-release screenings, the film has accumulated a combined 991,811 viewers.

"The Mummy," a Hollywood film starring Tom Cruise, was the previous record holder for the biggest opening day performance in South Korea, drawing in 872,965 moviegoers on its premiere day. "Roaring Currents," the biggest-grossing film in the country to date, was watched by 682,701 viewers on its release day.

The huge opening day performance was attributed to the massive number of screens dedicated to the movie. The film was shown on 2,027 screens, or 37.1 percent of total movie theater screens in the country. It was more than the previous record high of 1,991 screens allotted for "Captain America: Civil War" last year.

"The Battleship Island" is one of the more expensive South Korean films ever made. Against a budget of 25 billion won (US$22.3 million), the movie has to sell more than 7 million tickets to break even.

On social media, film industry insiders have voiced their concerns of a single film hogging up movie screens, especially in light of the movie's investor, CJ E&M, using its movie distribution arm CJ CGV to promote the film.

"Let alone monopoly, this is madness. We don't even expect a symbiosis but at least you should have the slightest feeling of conscience," said filmmaker Min Byung-hoon in a social media post aimed at CJ E&M.

The movie has attracted huge attention since it was first announced for its inspiration from the atrocities and ordeals faced by hundreds of forced Korean coal miners and sex slaves on Japan's Hashima Island, nicknamed Battleship Island after its resemblance to a warship, during World War II.

A poster for "The Battleship Island" provided by CJ E&M (Yonhap)

odissy@yna.co.kr

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July 27, 2017

‘Battleship Island’ sees record-breaking opening day, accused of screen monopoly

Much talked-about war flick “The Battleship Island” drew in a record number of viewers on opening day, but has also been accused of monopolizing theater screens here.

According to the Korean Film Council, 970,516 tickets were sold for screenings of “The Battleship Island” on Wednesday, the largest figure achieved by a movie on its first day in Korean cinemas.

The previous record was held by “The Mummy,” starring Tom Cruise, which opened in June. The film sold 872,965 tickets on its opening day.

Among Korean films, last year’s surprise hit “Train to Busan” held the previous record with 872,673 tickets sold.

On Wednesday, “The Battleship Island” was screened 10,174 times on 2,027 screens across the country, accounting for some 87 percent of all cinema screens in Korea.

Previously, the film that had occupied the largest number of screens was last year’s Marvel superhero flick “Captain America: Civil War,” with 1,991 screens.

(CJ Entertainment)

“Battleship Island” is distributed by CJ Entertainment, the movie arm of Korea’s largest entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M, which owns CGV, the country’s largest movie theater chain.

CJ has faced accusations of monopolizing screens for films in the past, including last year’s “Operation Chromite.” 

Director Min Byung-hun, known for “Love Never Fails” (2015), criticized the company via social media Wednesday, saying, “I did not even expect coexistence (with other films). But (CJ) should at least have a conscience.” 

In response to the controversy, CJ said Thursday there could be an exaggeration in the numbers. But the company acknowledged that around 2,000 screens had been readied for the film’s opening. 

CJ added that “the number of screens on which to show the movie is decided by each individual theater and is unrelated to the distributor.” 

“The Battleship Island,” which cost 26 billion won ($23.4 million) to produce, needs 8 million ticket sales to break even. 

The movie, directed by Ryoo Seung-wan and starring Song Joong-ki, Hwang Jung-min and So Ji-sub, centers on the mass escape of Koreans who were forced into slave labor by the Japanese on Hashima Island.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com) 

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July 28, 2017

Film distribution monopoly under fire:

Power of CJ and Lotte in Korean movie biz raises eyebrows

Source: INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily

CJ E&M’s “The Battleship Island” opened at 2,027 screens Wednesday, once again bringing up the issue of conglomerate power in Korea’s film market. [CJ E&M]

The star-studded historical epic “The Battleship Island” opened at an unprecedented 2,027 screens nationwide on Wednesday, accounting for more than 70 percent of the day’s total of 970,900 admissions. With the feat, the CJ E&M-distributed movie, starring Hwang Jung-min, So Ji-sub and Song Joong-ki, has set a record as the film that has opened at the highest number of screens in the country, beating the record set by 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War,” which opened at 1,991 screens. 

Though the record-breaking performance is laudable, the film’s significant box office performance has led to heated discussions about the conglomerate’s monopoly of the local film market, and whether CJ E&M’s vertical integration across distribution and ownership of movie theaters should come to an end. 

Over the past few years, conglomerates like CJ Group and Lotte Group have been criticized for dominating screens using their own movie distribution and cinema chain units, depriving films from smaller companies or indie and art-house flicks an opportunity for theatrical debut. 

CJ Group owns entertainment giant CJ E&M and South Korea’s biggest cinema chain CJ CGV while Lotte has Lotte Entertainment and Lotte Cinema. 

CJ E&M and Lotte Entertainment take up 17.1 percent and 7.6 percent of the film distribution market, ranking first and seventh, respectively. CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema are the top two theater chains in the country and make up 79.8 percent of movie theaters in the entire country. 

Discussion over whether these entertainment behemoths should be divested is currently underway. Culture minister Do Jong-hwan proposed a relevant bill in October when he was an opposition legislator. If the bill passes, CJ and Lotte will each have to give up either one of their two movie-related arms. The bill is currently pending at the National Assembly, and aims to solve conglomerates’ “unfair practice of depriving audience’s rights to enjoy diverse movies at theaters.”

Seo Jung, the CEO of CGV, spoke out about the controversy during a media event last week regarding the mid-year performance of the company. “Calls to dismantle [a conglomerate’s] screening and distribution rights based on the U.S. v. Paramount ruling makes me question whether it is correct to judge Korea’s film industry based on a law from 70 years back.”

U.S. v. Paramount, the landmark 1948 anti-trust decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, ended the stranglehold Hollywood studios and distributors had on the U.S. film market. Declaring eight major studios, including Paramount and Warner Bros., a monopoly, the court ordered them to break up the studios’ vertical integration across distribution and ownership of movie theaters.

Seo continued, “I wonder whether a law can catch up with the speed of a rapidly changing industrial environment and technological change,” Seo said. “This kind of regulation and control will shrink Korea’s film industry.”

Some have expressed concerns whether new market entrants would be able to pull off what CJ and Lotte have done if the two choose to keep multi-screen cinema chains upon the passage of the bill. 

“Investment and distribution require a lot more trial and error than other industries. The know-how that [CJ and Lotte] have built up over time can’t be ignored,” said a source from film industry who wished to remain anonymous.

But many have stressed the need for breaking the conglomerates’ stronghold on the industry. 

“If a distributor also has screening rights, it is very likely to result in a monopoly,” said a source from Cinema Dal, a producer and distributor of independent films. 

“Small [independent] movies have a limited chance to screen, unlike [big-budget] commercial movies which are granted a larger number of screenings based on the commercial logic,” the source said.

In order to properly break down the monopoly that dominates Korea’s film industry, lawmakers need to think even further down the road, according to film critic Kim Hyung-seok.

“Though separating distribution rights and cinema ownership is necessary, that itself will not be enough to properly tackle the monopoly.” 

Kim further explained the necessity to require multiplex cinemas to screen a certain number of small, independent movies within a certain time period or to boost the government’s support for independent cinemas.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]

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July 28, 2017

Are 'Battleship Island' Opening Records a Pyrrhic Victory?

By Kim Sung-hyun, Lee Tae-hoon The ChosunIlbo

This summer's much-hyped film "The Battleship Island," which depicts the plight of Korean slave laborers on Hashima Island in World War II, set two records on its opening day Wednesday.

First it drew 970,516 viewers, but it also opened on an unprecedented 2,027 theaters, breaking the previous record set by "Captain America: Civil War" in 2016 and pushing everything else out of sight.

The film has reignited debate about the monopolization of theaters by big blockbusters. Even though it did not completely take over because multiplexes also show other movies, it still accounted for 37 percent of all screens.

And the figures also need to tally the number of times a film is shown. Of 18,440 screenings in domestic theaters on Wednesday, "The Battleship Island" accounted for a staggering 55.2 percent. In other words, it took up more than half the screenings and the busiest evening slots, so for many moviegoers there was simply nothing else to see.

Moviegoers line up at a theater in Yongsan, Seoul on Wednesday. /Yonhap

But theaters have their own rules for allocating screenings. They allocate them in collaboration with distributors based on reserved ticket sales, seat occupancy rates and box-office sales.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, advance bookings for "The Battleship Island" stood at 70.6 percent. Second was teen comedy franchise "Superbad 3" at 14 percent. "The Battleship Island" boasted a seat occupancy rate of 52.8 percent on Wednesday, the highest in a month, and theaters argue they have to offer more screening of films if there is demand.

Yet the initial success of a movie does not guarantee overall ticket sales will be stellar. Kim Hyung-ho, a movie market analyst, said, "Allocating a large number of screens to movies generating big ticket sales is an endemic trait of multiplexes. But the huge number of viewers flocking to a premiere also means that word of mouth spreads faster if the film is no good, which could end up leading to empty theaters down the road."

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July 28, 2017

Most Anticipated Korean Film of 2017 "The Battleship Island" Debuts in the USA and Canada August 4

Source: CJ Entertainment via Hancinema.net

CJ Entertainment's highly anticipated summer blockbuster, "The Battleship Island", a historical war film, is set to release on July 26 in Korea and on August 4 in over 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada. The title was featured at the Cannes Film Festival last month and was pre-sold to 113 territories worldwide.

"The Battleship Island" is based on a true story during WWII when Korea was under the colonial rule of Japan. In 1944, 400 conscripted Korean civilians head out to Hashima Island. Nicknamed ""The Battleship Island"" after its resemblance to a war vessel, many were lured by false promises of high wages. Upon arrival, they found that workers are forced into slave labor. As the U.S. launches a massive counterattack on Japan, the Japanese decide to blow up the island in order to bury the truth about their awful treatment of the Korean slave labors. A Korean independence activist discovers the plan and works with others on the island for a mass escape.

The film is directed by Ryoo Seung-wan ("Veteran", "The Berlin File"), and stars Hwang Jeong-min ("Ode to My Father", "The Himalayas"), So Ji-sub ("Always", "Sophie's Revenge"), Song Joong-ki ("Descendants of the Sun", "A Werewolf Boy"), and Lee Jung-hyun ("Alice In Earnestland", "The Admiral: Roaring Currents").

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July 28, 2017

'The Battleship Island': Review

By Jason Bechervaise | Screen

Dir/: Ryoo Seung-wan. South Korea. 2017. 132mins.

Ryoo Seung-wan’s blockbuster is the biggest release of the year in Korea, yet fails to live up to the promise of Veteran

Renowned for his audacious set-pieces, maverick action director Ryoo Seung-wan follows up two blockbusters - The Berlin File and Veteran, Korea’s second-highest-grossing film of all time - with a story set in a forced labour camp during the Second World War. . While there’s no doubting its huge ambitions, The Battleship Island turns out to be a disappointing misfire.

Ryoo and Shin Kyoung-ill have delivered a jingoistic screenplay which pulsates with anti-Japanese sentiment.

The stellar cast (Hwang Jung-min, Song Joong-ki) and enticing subject matter have already set opening-day records in South Korea (July 26) with just shy of one million admissions, and that success should continue on to the weekend. The film’s weakness could signify diminishing returns as word of mouth sets in, however. And while its pedigree may translate into strong box office sales in some Asian territories (not including Japan), its firecely nationalistic narrative might put off viewers further afield. CJ Entertainment has sold The Battleship Island globally, including reported record-breaking prices for some Asian territories.

Set during the latter stages of the the war when Korea is firmly under Japanese colonial rule, Ryoo’s film follows bandmaster Lee Gang-ok (Hwang Jung-min) who attempts to travel to Japan with his young daughter Sohee (Kim Su-an) and his musicians. But they are duped and taken to the island of Hashima, located some 15km off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. It turns out to be a prison camp.

Also on the island is a US-trained independence fighter Park Mu-young (Song Joong-ki), who has been sent there on a mission, along with Seoul gangster Choi Chil-sung (So Ji-sub) who fights his way up the chain of command, Yoon Hak-chul (Lee Kyoung-young) a spiritual leader and mediator, and the sex slave or so-called “comfort woman” Mallyon (Lee Jung-hyun).

With the war coming to an end and the Japanese on the verge of defeat, Mu-young aborts his original mission to rescue an independence movement leader, and devises a daring plan to evacuate all the Koreans from the island.

The film is mstly rooted in truth. Nicknamed Battleship Island owing to its resemblance to a Japanese war vessel (some exterior shots of the island were used in Skyfall), hundreds of Koreans were brought to Hashima during the war, many of whom were forced to work in mines a kilometre below the sea floor. “Comfort women” refers to women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army before and during the war. Although fictionalising history is certainly not new in cinema, the entire escape, which serves as the film’s climatic set piece, is completely made up. This may cause some problems with veterans, while Ryoo and Shin Kyoung-ill have delivered a jingoistic screenplay which pulsates with anti-Japanese sentiment.

Many of the film’s problems lie in its characters, which are for the most part one-dimensional. In a crowded script, the more interesting dynamic is between Gang-ok and his daughter as he seeks to protect her. By quite a margin, rising star Kim Su-an (Train To Busan) is the best thing in the film as the young Sohee, and appears destined to become one of Korea’s top actresses over the coming years.

Otherwise the cast fails to deliver. Hwang Jung-min (Veteran, Ode to my Father) is a talented actor and a huge box office draw. But like the film itself, he’s a disappointment, while his co-headliners Song Joong-ki and So Ji-sub also fail to resonate. It isn’t just the top-tier cast that has attracted attention to The Battleship Island, but the sheer scale of the production, which was budgeted at $22.3m. A gargantuan outdoor set was built in Korea to reconstruct the entire island, but the resulting film’s cinematography and choreography surprisingly fail to reach the standard normally associated with Ryoo’s innovative visuals.

The camera is certainly mobile with plenty of aerial, crane and tracking shots, especially towards the end. But The Battleship Island feels more like a standard blockbuster than a Ryoo Seung-wan film, lacking the dynamism of his daring visual aesthetic and while its final climatic set-piece might impress some viewers, it doesn’t rescue the film. A lively score also sometimes feels at odds with its bleak tone and aesthetic.

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July 28, 2017

'The Battleship Island' tops 2 million in admissions on 3rd day

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," a big-budget South Korean movie, surpassed 2 million in attendance in South Korea on Friday, the third day of its run, the film's local distributor said.

The action drama movie written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan hit the milestone on Friday, according to CJ E&M.

The pace is one day faster than the Hollywood film "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in surpassing 2 million viewers.

"The Battleship Island" with a budget of 25 billion won (US$22.3 million) is inspired by atrocities and ordeals faced by hundreds of forced Korean coal miners and sex slaves at Hashima Island, located off the coast of the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan for its harsh colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 when many young Korean women were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. Several million Koreans were forcibly taken to Japan as laborers during the period.

entropy@yna.co.kr

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July 29, 2017

[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Battleship Island"

Source: HanCinema.net

The black and white opener of "The Battleship Island" focuses on a part of wartime economy rarely seen in film- the support staff. Specifically, the miners, who come up with the raw material that is later purposed into shiny toys for the military. The work is dangerous, especially under the stress of wartime quotas. But it's especially bad for the Korean characters of "The Battleship Island", who labor for the Japanese near the end of the doomed effort that was World War II in the Pacific.

Don't mistake "The Battleship Island" for mere torture porn about how the Japanese Empire was bad. I mean, it was bad, don't get me wrong. Director Ryoo Seung-hwan reminds us that while the men worked in horrible conditions, the women had it even worse- they became comfort women. Rather paradoxically, they were comfort women for the male Korean miners in addition to the Japanese soldiers, because everyone's actions for the war effort were considered, legally at least, to be equal.

There's the irony that defines the film. The high ranked Japanese officers we see believe that Japan is the greatest civilization in the world, and that supporting the Japanese war effort this way enobles the spirit of lowborn Koreans. They beam with sincere reverence when official Japanese anthems play. Yet the actual people whose welfare the Japanese government is supposed to be improving are miserable. The Koreans are on the constant point of mutiny. When they're not fighting with each other anyway.

The leads in "The Battleship Island" are defined less by long-term goals as they are by their constant opposition to each other. Usually for petty reasons. Chil-seong (played by So Ji-sub) is a military man who's used to being obeyed. Moo-yeong (played by Song Joon-ki) is a freedom fighter who's used to being right. Mal-nyeon (played by Lee Jung-hyun) has been a comfort woman so long she's cynical about everything. Hak-cheol (played by Lee Kyeong-yeong) sees it as his task to keep order in the camp.

It's Kang-ok (played by Hwang Jeong-min) who unexpectedly proves to be the bridge between these disparate interests. As a skilled musician in Imperial Japanese standards, Kang-ok is a definite collaborator. I was expecting Kang-ok to learn that the Japanese consider all Koreans trash, but his role in the story is much more nuanced than that. Kang-ok wants his daughter So-hee (played by Kim Su-an) to live. While everyone else is constantly obsessing over immediate, more viscerally satisfying objectives, Kang-ok alone realizes that this singular desire to live is what should be the priority.

That much is easy to lose in the moment, because "The Battleship Island" is incredible spectacle. The adrenaline in every scene is palpable, of the variety that makes you want to cheer when the bad guy of the moment gets what's so badly coming to him. But then, contrast that sense of excitement with the bleak sense of horror that is the final shot- that powerful visual demonstration of what happens when both sides keep one-upping another with increasingly gruesome violence, forever. It makes me glad, at least, that Kang-ok was able to find another way.

Review by William Schwartz

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Photos; cjenmmovie

Stage Greeting 28/7(?)

 

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July 29, 2017

'The Battleship Island' tops 3 million in admissions on 4th day

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," a big-budget South Korean movie, surpassed 3 million in attendance here on Saturday, the fourth day of its run, the film's local distributor said.

The pace is one day faster than the Hollywood film "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in surpassing the 3-million mark, according to CJ E&M.

"The Battleship Island" is an action drama movie written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, inspired by atrocities and ordeals faced by hundreds of forced Korean coal miners and sex slaves at Hashima Island, located off the coast of the Japanese city of Nagasaki, during World War II.

Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan for its harsh colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 when many young Korean women were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. Several million Koreans were forcibly taken to Japan as laborers during the period.

Yet, the film has been embroiled in a series of controversies, including the issue of dominating screens backed by the country's food and entertainment giant CJ, which runs both cinema chain CJ CGV and movie distributor CJ E&M.

Moviegoers wait at a theater in Seoul on July 26, 2017, to see the new movie "The Battleship Island" that opened across South Korea. The film depicts Koreans' desperate attempt to escape coal mines on Japan's Hashima Island, where they were forced to work during World War II, when Korea was a colony of Japan. (Yonhap)

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July 30, 2017

July Movie Actor Brand Reputation Rankings Revealed

Source: Soompi by D. Kim   

Movie actor brand reputation rankings have been released for the month of July.

The Korean Business Research Institute analyzed 139,284,258 pieces of big data from June 28 to July 29, looking at interaction, media, communication, and community indexes.

Song Joong Ki topped the list with a total brand reputation index of 23,494,489. Song Kang Ho followed up in second place with a total score of 11,510,210, while Gong Yoo came in third place with a score of 10,810,929.

Check out the top 25 rankings below:

1. Song Joong Ki
2. Song Kang Ho
3. Gong Yoo
4. Kim Soo Hyun
5. Lee Jung Hyun
6. So Ji Sub
7. Im Siwan
8. Jun Ji Hyun
9. Hwang Jung Min
10. Yeo Jin Goo
11. Yoo Hae Jin
12. Ahn Jae Hong
13. Lee Kyung Young
14. Jung Woo Sung
15. Lee Byung Hun
16. Kim Ok Bin
17. Hyun Bin
18. Yoo Ah In
19. Han Ji Min
20. Park Hyo Joo
21. Han Hyo Joo
22. Lee Jung Jae
23. Jo In Sung
24. Kim Hye Soo
25. Ha Jung Woo

Source (1)

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Photos; cjenmmovie

Stage Greeting 29/7(?)

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

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Photos; cjenmmovie

Stage Greeting 30/7

 

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July 31, 2017

'The Battleship Island' sells spectacular 2.5 million tickets on opening weekend

By Shim Sun-ah

SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," one of the most highly anticipated films of the year, debuted at No. 1 on the weekend box office chart in South Korea, surpassing 4 million in the accumulated number of views, data showed Monday.

The historical action flick directed by Ryoo Seung-wan claimed the top spot by attracting 2.5 million people to 2,019 theaters across the country over the July 28-30 weekend, according to figures from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

This photo released by CJ Entertainment shows a scene from "The Battleship Island." (Yonhap)

The movie surpassed the 4 million audience mark Sunday, the fifth day of run, becoming the fastest film to hit the mark this year. The pace is the same as "Roaring Currents" (2013), the most-viewed film of all time in South Korea.

Starring Song Joong-ki, So Ji-sub and Hwang Jung-min, "The Battleship Island" is based on the atrocities and ordeals faced by hundreds of forced Korean coal miners and sex slaves on Japan's Hashima Island, nicknamed Battleship Island after its resemblance to a warship, during World War II.

Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan for its harsh colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when many young Korean women were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. Several million Koreans were forcibly taken to Japan as laborers during the period.

The animated Hollywood film "Despicable Me 3" landed at No. 2, adding 852,864 tickets to its domestic total of 1.22 million.

"Dunkirk," Christopher Nolan's World War II film, took third place, collecting 366,256 moviegoers. It passed the 2 million threshold Saturday, the sixth day since its release, with its accumulated number of viewers reaching 2.18 million.

Coming in fourth was "Spider-Man: Homecoming" with 100,213, followed by "Crayon Shinchan 2017 Theatrical Film: Invasion! Alien Shiriri," a film adaptation of the animated Japanese TV series "Crayon Shinchan." It sold 48,090 tickets.

sshim@yna.co.kr

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July 31, 2017

'The Battleship Island' shown to UNESCO officials, diplomats in Paris

SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- The Korean film "The Battleship Island" held a prescreening for UNESCO officials and diplomats in Paris to increase the world's awareness of the dark history of the Japanese island where hundreds of Koreans were forced to work as coal miners and sex slaves during World War II, its distributor said Monday.

"We had a special prescreening of 'The Battleship Island' at the headquarters of Metropolitan Film Export, the film's French distributor, with UNESCO headquarters officials and Korean diplomats stationed in Paris attending Friday (local time)," CJ Entertainment said in a release.

Among the 30 South Korean diplomats who attended the event were Ambassador to UNESCO Lee Byong-hyun, Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Yoon Jong-won, and Park Jae-bum, chief of the Korean Cultural Center in Paris.

This composite photo shows promotional posters released by CJ Entertainment for "The Battleship Island." (Yonhap)

Based on the dark history of Japan's Hashima Island, better known as Battleship Island after its resemblance to the warship, the movie depicts a story of Koreans who risk their lives to escape the island. Korea was a colony of Japan from 1910 to 1945.

The South Korean government has confirmed that 122 Koreans died on the island during the war.

Despite Seoul's diplomatic efforts to prevent it, Hashima Island was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in July 2015 as a symbol of Japan's rapid industrialization. UNESCO recommended Tokyo implement measures to explain its full history, but no action has yet been taken.

"We organized this event in Paris, where the UNESCO headquarters is located, in order to raise global awareness of the hidden history of the island on the UNESCO world heritage list," CJ Entertainment said. "We wanted to raise the attention of the international community on Japan's failure to implement the UNESCO recommendation."

The distributor also had a special prescreening of the film for some 160 foreign diplomats in South Korea last Tuesday.

Released on Wednesday, the homegrown blockbuster directed by Ryoo Seung-wan of "Veteran" claimed the top spot on the South Korean weekend box office, attracting more than 4 million people by Sunday. It stars Song Joong-ki, So Ji-sub, Hwang Jung-min, Kim Soo-ahn and Lee Jung-hyun.

sshim@yna.co.kr

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July 31, 2017

Talks over the movie 'The Battleship Island'

Source: The Dong-A Ilbo

Talks over the movie 'The Battleship Island'

"The Battleship Island (directed by Ryoo Seung-wan)," which depicts a story of Joseon workers at a forced labor camp on Hashima coal mining Island under Japanese colonial occupation, attracted about 4 million viewers on Sunday in just five days its wide release. Its box office is going up at an incredibly fast pace, comparable to the highest-grossing film ‘The Admiral: Roaring Currents.’

However, online reviewers gave chilly reaction to the movie in general. Internet users of a web portal gave 5 points on average out of 10 (audiences gave about 7 points on average).


There is a controversial Gukppong issue surrounding "The Battleship Island." Gukppong is a slang that disparages exclusive and extreme nationalism and chauvinism. Even when Internet users enter Gukppong in web search engines, "The Battleship Island" automatically pops up as a related search word. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan and South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson exchanged harsh languages about the movie and each claimed that the movie is a creative work and it is based on a true story.


A debate on screen monopoly of major companies has continued. "The Battleship Island’ distributed by CJ Entertainment was played 10,808 times in 2,019 screens (or 55.8 percent share of the total screenings) on last Saturday alone. Film critic Jeong Ji-wook (50), audience Kwak Ji-yun (27, graduate student), and culture desk reporters Cho Jong-yup and Jang Sun-hee talked about many issues surrounding the movie on last Friday (this article contains spoilers). 


Kwak Ji-yun (Kwak): The movie was not boring in general but was full of clichés. It was for the box office success. 


Jeong Ji-wook (Jeong): It is a typical commercial film with stereotyped characters and relations of good and evil. It is the epitome of a mediocre movie, considering the director’s previous works. Romantic relationship between Choi Chil-sung (starred by So Ji-sub) and AVA (Lee Jung-hyun), father-daughter relationship between Lee Kang-ok (Hwang Jung-min) and Kim Su-an (Lee So-hee) can appeal to audiences in various age groups. Considering the popularity of Song Joong-ki (as Park Moo-young, a special agent of the Korean independence movement), the movie is destined to be succeed.

Cho Jong-yup (Cho): I found it interesting to see Hashima coal mining in the beginning of the movie, but that was all. Many online reviewers said that it was so predictable anti-Japanese movie. They argued that the movie borrowed the story of the battleship island only and neglected to express historical facts and hardships of forced labors. It’s all of massive escape scenes and shooting scenes. Korean audiences knew that already. They are sophisticated audiences.

Jeong: All my acquaintances liked the movie. Unfortunately, I could predict that how the characters would be changed as they were so plain. They were even changed and acted out of context. 


Cho: Director Ryoo created a bad Korean character (Joseon Dynasty people) to exceed a typical dichotomy but that hindered the cruelty of forced labor under Japanese rule. It would be better to have good Japanese people rather than focusing on bad Koreans. I could find only one scene that a Japanese laborer looked on escaping Joseon people.

Jang: Audiences would not be satisfied to see the Rising Sun Flag was teared, if that was the case. We should keep in mind that "The Battleship Island" is a commercial film, not a documentary. Director Ryoo did well to make audiences feel catharsis and it is his strength. I guess that some bad reviews reflect that audiences expected too much from him.  


Kwak: What do you think of the scene that Park Moo-young cut off the head of a Japanese with one stroke? I thought it was so typical. I couldn’t help but laugh and felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Cho: He looked like a Samurai in the Age of Civil War in Japan or a soldier of the Kwantung Army who killed innocent civilians, not an agent of the Korean independence movement. It was awkward as he resembled the enemy.


Cho: I liked it (all laughed)! The scene gave a cathartic experience to the audience.


Cho: In the movie, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea ordered to save Lee Kyung-young as Yoon Hak-chul as the only one who could end conflicts among factions of independent movement. However, it is nonsense to depict such important figure as a betrayer of Korean people. Director Ryoo’s movies somewhat stimulate animosity against elites but that was too much this time.

Jeong: The director said that this movie was based on historical facts but the rest was pure imagination. I think his comment explain enough. 


Jang: Director Ryu clearly said that he used the history as a motif. It is certainly a problem that Japanese politicians and far-right media are calling the movie as a complete fraud and fake. 


Jeong: It seems that focusing too much on attract the audience created loopholes.


Cho: Most Holocaust movies touch the hearts of the audience in general. We see Israel places barriers in Palestine today. Still, we got emotional to the ordeals of Israelis to see such movies. Then, do you think that we can expect for Japanese people, who truly reflect upon their past, to ask their acquaintances to go to see "The Battleship Island’?

Kwak: When I checked the movie screening schedule, all I could see was "The Battleship Island." The screening was scheduled on 10:45, 11:00, 11:20 in the morning.


Jeong: It is unacceptable that a movie accounts for over 2,000 screens. It is enough to have 800 to 1,000 screens for a long run screening film.

Jang: Expecting director Ryoo that he would make a movie that could persuade Japanese is too much. "The Battleship Island" is not a documentary film. It’s just a movie. That’s all. Also, most Korean audiences would not know about the Battleship Island. The movie made people to pay attention to the island at least. I want to award high marks to the movie on that point.

Jong-Yeob JO jjj@donga.com

[rubie]

August 1, 2017

‘Battleship Island’ dominates at Korean box office

Source: INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily

Despite concerns that it dominated at too many screens, the controversial period epic “The Battleship Island” smashed Korea’s weekend box office. [CJ E&M]

As expected, the controversial “The Battleship Island” stormed Korea’s box office on its debut weekend. The newly-released “Despicable Me 3” was not even close in the competition. 

From Friday to Sunday, the fictionally recreated period epic “The Battleship Island” sold 2.51 million admissions at 2,019 screens, adding on to a total of 4.07 million tickets sold as of Monday, since it hit theaters less than a week ago. It accounted for 62.8 percent of the entire weekend ticket sales, raking in 20.84 billion won ($18.6 million). 

The period epic, starring Hwang Jung-min, So Ji-sub and Song Joong-ki, has been at the center of attention for dominating more than 80 percent of screens. The CJ E&M-distributed movie opened at the highest number of screens in the country on Wednesday with 2,027 out of the entire 2,575 screens nationwide, once again raising the issue of conglomerate’s monopoly of the local film market.

The movie, directed by “Veteran” (2015) director Ryoo Seung-wan, depicts the lives of Koreans who were subject to forced labor in Hashima Island, otherwise known as Battleship Island for its warship-like appearance, during the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910-45). 

Universal Pictures and Illumination’s third chapter of the “Despicable Me” series landed in a distant second place with 850,000 admissions sold, taking up 20 percent of weekend ticket sales. The movie, starring supervillain-turned-crime fighter Gru and his suppository-shaped yellow henchmen, sold 852,000 tickets since it was released nationwide on Wednesday. The newest installment of the franchise adds an interesting new character, Gru’s long-lost twin brother named Dru. 

“Interstellar” (2014) director Christopher Nolan’s World War II movie “Dunkirk” dropped two spots down to rank third in its second weekend. Having sold 366,000 tickets from Friday to Sunday, the war movie, starring Fionn Whitehead and Tom Hardy, has so far sold a total of 2.18 million admissions. 

The superhero film “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” starring English actor Tom Holland, made it into the fourth spot on its fourth weekend, having sold 7.13 million tickets. Japanese animation “Crayon Shinchan 2017 Theatrical Film: Invasion!! Alien Shiriri” rounded out the top five in its second weekend with accumulated ticket sales of 237,000 admissions. 

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]

[rubie]

August 2, 2017

(Yonhap Interview) 'Battleship Island' director says disputes would only reveal the film's true value

By Shim Sun-ah and Cho Jae-young

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," a domestic blockbuster about Korean forced laborers on Japan's Hashima Island during World War II, has been heating up the summer box office since its release last week.

Apart from its bullish box office performance, however, the film currently is at the center of some controversy for issues ranging from its domination of movie screens to its approach to the checkered modern history of Korea and Japan.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan poses for the camera before his interview with Yonhap News Agency at a cafe in Seoul on Aug. 1, 2017. (Yonhap)

For director Ryoo Seung-wan, all the dispute has a silver lining. "I believe the film, like a gem in the mud, would shine better through all those controversies," Ryoo said during an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday. "I worked very hard to make this film, so it would be rather dangerous to go without any controversy."

He, however, expressed regret over the criticism from Korean audiences over highlighting some pro-Japanese Koreans' evil deeds in the movie that tells the story of hundreds of Koreans who risked their lives to escape from the Japanese island where they were forced to work in coal mines and military brothels during World War II. Korea was a colony of Japan from 1910 to 1945.

"I think in dealing with Japan's imperial period, it's basic to say Japan was bad," he said. "I thought, at the same time, that the film would see only half of the history if it doesn't deal with the problem of pro-Japanese Korean managers who harshly treated their Korean colleagues. So I thought Koreans should take a cool-headed approach to ourselves, constantly criticize past historical issues and establish our own position on issues that have not been cleared up."

As for accusations that the movie wrongly described details of forced labor, the filmmaker stressed he had made it clear since even before the film's release that it tells a fictional story based on historical facts. "I even recreated the scenes from a massive escape, which is fiction, with help from experts on the history of Hashima Island and military specialists."

He also refuted criticism that he used Korean history for commercial purposes.

"I've never forgotten my mission as a director of commercial films, but it's unfair to say that I commercially used the history."

The director said he felt a sense of responsibility when he made a film based on the painful history of the nation he should make it well and should not cause any harm to those who were victims in times of historical turmoil.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan poses for the camera before his interview with Yonhap News Agency at a cafe in Seoul on Aug. 1, 2017. (Yonhap)

The movie surpassed 5 million in attendance on Wednesday, the eighth day of run, becoming the fastest film to hit the threshold this year, according to its investor-distributor CJ Entertainment.

Some people have attributed the film's splendid performance in the box office to the overwhelmingly large number of screens available for the film. Food and entertainment conglomerate CJ owns CJ CGV, the country's largest multi-screen cinema chain.

The film opened on 2,027 screens, which is about 80 percent of 2,758 movie screens available in the country, or 37 percent of the total 5,481 when screens used for alternately showing less popular films are combined. This marked the first time in the country that a movie has been released on more than 2,000 screens.

Ryoo said he is "heavyhearted" over the screen monopoly issue.

"There is no change in my position that we should have a healthy ecology where diverse films can coexist," he said. "I hope an institutional measure to be taken against the screen monopoly, so the long-held problem can be ended with my film."

sshim@yna.co.kr

[rubie]

August 2, 2017

'The Battleship Island' tops 5 million in admissions on 8th day

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- "The Battleship Island," a big-budget South Korean movie, surpassed 5 million in attendance in its home country Wednesday, the eighth day of its run, the film's local distributor said.

The historical action written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan hit the milestone at 9:30 a.m. in the fastest pace among all films that opened this year, according to CJ Entertainment.

The pace is three days faster than the Hollywood film "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in surpassing 5 million views and two days faster than Ryoo's previous box office hit "Veteran." It, however, is three days slower than "Train to Busan," seen by more than 10 million people last year and two days slower than "Roaring Currents," the most-viewed film ever in South Korea.

"The Battleship Island" is inspired by atrocities and ordeals faced by hundreds of forced Korean coal miners and sex slaves on Hashima Island, located off the coast of the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan for its harsh colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when many young Korean women were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. Several million Koreans were forcibly taken to Japan as laborers during the period.

This image released by CJ E&M shows a scene from "The Battleship Island." (Yonhap)

sshim@yna.co.kr

[rubie]

Photo: CJ Entertainment @cjenmmovie