How celebrities get rich despite box office flops and rare TV appearances: Commercials

Are you a celebrity whose movies bombed at the box office and who rarely appears on TV? No problem. Kim Tae-hee’s two movies were flops and she hasn’t acted on TV for years. Just do as she does, and appear in commercials. Lots and lots of commercials.

Fees of hundreds of million won are also a phenomenon unique to Korea. In the U.S., only professional models appear in commercials, which actors tend to avoid so as not to look like has-beens. This shows that acting alone can generate enough wealth in the U.S., whereas it rarely does in Korea.

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By contrast, a handful of actors and actresses dominate the film industry in Korea. “In a situation like this, many celebrities focus more on commercials than actual acting,” says Kim won-young, a copywriter.

Hey! Where’s John Cho?!

The Chosun Ilbo has an article about the Korean actors and actresses who have starred in recent Hollywood movies. Mentioned were Rain (“Speed Racer”), Lee Byung-hun (“G.I. Joe”), Jeon Ji-hyun (“Blood: The Last Vampire”), and Daniel Henney (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”).

Hey! Where’s John Cho, who stars as Sulu in the summer smash “Star Trek“?!

Pixar’s Cho Ye-won and Peter Sohn

Last month, we learned that Russell, one of the main characters in the hit movie “Up” was based upon Peter Sohn, a Korean-American who works at Pixar.
Now we learn about Cho Ye-won, who also works at Pixar.

Movie “Whispering Corridors 5: A Blood Pledge” receives 18+ rating because of suicide pact scene

If you’re familiar with Korean movies, you probably know that one of the most famous and successful series of movies has been “Whispering Corridors” and its many sequels: Memento Mori, Wishing Stairs, and Ghost Voice. (Though it’s not part of the series, Bunshinsaba is very similar.) All of them are horror movies that take place within girls’ high schools, and deal with topics that are often taboo. The first in the series outraged teachers because it depicted an enraged teacher beating up students. At that time, however, such things definitely existed and the movie merely portrayed something that the viewers were already familiar with (if not had actually experienced).
The fifth movie in the series, “A Blood Pledge,” has received an 18+ rating from the Korea Media Rating Board (KMRB) because of a scene in which a group of schoolgirls pledge to commit suicide together. (Later in the movie, one of them does kill herself. Her ghost then begins to torment the other, surviving members for not following through on their promise.) The rating was given because of the fear that the scene would inspire copycat suicides (called the “Werther effect” in Korea) in young students. (One young woman did, in fact, commit a copycat suicide after ex-president Roh Moo-hyun killed himself.)

Edit/Updates:

—> Here is a review of the movie. It’s not very positive, but then again, the author didn’t like any of the other three sequels very much either. I, on the other hand, thought that “Wishing Stairs” was a very well-made horror movie, so I still intend to see “A Blood Pledge” myself and make my own judgment.

—> Also, Korea Beat has translated an article which discusses the question: “Why do Korean ghosts always seem to be female?”

“Thirst” to appear in American theaters next month

“Thirst,” the latest film by Park Chan-wook* and winner of the Juror prize at this year’s Cannes film festival, will be shown in American theaters next month.

* director of the Vengeance Trilogy (“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” “Old Boy,” and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance”), “JSA”, and “I’m a Cyborg but that’s OK”

“Thirst” wins jury prize at Cannes film festival

Park Chan-wook’s “Thirst” has won the jury prize at the Cannes international film festival.

“Thirst,” the first Korean film to be co-produced and distributed by major Hollywood studio Universal Pictures, has been sold to more than 10 countries, including France, Greece and Brazil, for screening worldwide later this year.

“Thirst” is about a priest who travels abroad, hoping to do good. However, he contracts a fatal disease, and things become even worse after a blood transfusion from an unknown donor.

Korean films and filmmakers to appear at Cannes film festival

Top Korean movie directors have been invited to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival running from May 13 to 24.

The festival delegation announced the list of this year’s competitors and jury members Thursday through the festival’s official Web site ― they included Koreans Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong.

According to the list, Park’s “Thirst” will vie for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded to competing films at the event. This is the second time that one of Park’s films has been nominated, the first being “Old Boy” in 2004. The movie won the Grand Prix at Cannes that year. The thriller “Thirst” tells the story of a priest who becomes a vampire and falls in love with his friend’s wife. It’s slated for release here on April 30.

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Fellow filmmaker Bong will also join Park at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section with his new film “Mother.” Bong won the award for Best Director at the 2007 Oporto International Film Festival for his monster film “The Host” (2006). This is his third invitation to the event. Mother stars veteran Korean actress Kim Hye-ja as a distressed mother who fights to prove her son’s innocence against false charge of homicide. The film is slated for release in May.

Meanwhile, Lee Chang-dong (“Secret Sunshine,” 2007) will be part of the jury, headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert, Taiwanese actress Shu Qi and American director James Gray. Lee’s “Secret Sunshine” was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2007, while “Oasis” (2002) won the Special Director’s Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2003.

(source)

(More here.)

Was the movie “JSA” prophetic about choco pies?

In the movie “JSA” actor Song Gang-ho played a North Korean soldier who became enamored with the South Korean snack called “choco pies.” If you’re Canadian, you’ll recognize them as being very similar to the much older snack called Wagon Wheels.
It turns out that North Koreans really do love choco pies.

If there’s one South Korean product that all North Korean workers in the Kaesong Industrial Complex know about, it’s Choco Pie. According to factory owners in the Kaesong complex, some businesses there began passing out the snacks to their North Korean workers in 2005 to boost morale, which led to explosive popularity of the product among workers, and now most businesses there have followed suit.

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The Choco Pies are then brought out of the industrial park through unofficial channels and sold in black markets near Pyongyang. One South Korean government official said North Korean authorities tried to stop Choco Pies from being smuggled out of the complex, but this has proven too difficult to do, and they are now turning a blind eye, the staffer said.

He added Choco Pies were “sweet symbols of capitalism” for North Koreans.

Perhaps you’re heard of the Sunshine Policy, the policy of engaging North Korea that was pursued for two consecutive presidential terms, and whose abject failure has lead to, among other things, North Korea’s rocket launch, the restarting of its nuclear program, and continuation of human rights violations. As blogger G.I. Korea noted, Dr. Andrei Lankov, an expert on Korea, advocates a radically different kind of policy, one that, in years to come, may be referred to as the Choco Pie Engagement Policy.

Sub-titled movies to be screened regularly from March 27

Until now, Korean movies were rarely screened with English sub-titles. Usually, one had to wait for the DVD to come out. That’s set to change from March 27.

Two theaters in Seoul will be providing English subtitles to Korean movies released this year.

The service, which started this week, is available at two theaters of the local cinema chain Cinus.

One is in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, and the other in Gangnam, the southern part of the city.

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An opening ceremony will take place tonight [Friday, March 27] at 7:30 p.m. at Cinus Myeong-dong.

The main event will be a preview of the English-subtitled Korean movie “Private Eye.”

Read all about it, including information about how to get to the theaters, here.

Director Park Chan-wook (of “Old Boy” fame) releasing new movie “Thirst”

If you liked director Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy (“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” “Old Boy,” and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance“), then you might like his new film, “Thirst.” (You can see a trailer here and a brief description here.) It’s scheduled to be released in South Korea in April.

Edit/Update:

There’s more information in this article, including a look at the original movie poster and its revised, less racy version.

Further Update:

Here is an article about the movie, focusing on the main actress, Kim Ok-bin.

["Thirst"] will be released in Korea on Apr. 30.