2024 Following the Film Recession...40 million faded seedlings and crime cities
Dec 30, 2024
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New faces that will lead Chungmuro's future, such as movies 'Handsome Guys' Director Nam Dong-hyeop, 'She's Dead' Director Kim Se-hwi and 'Jang Son' Director Oh Jung-min, emerged, and two 10 million movies were born from the first half of the year, revitalizing the stagnant theater district. On the other hand, as the total number of audiences decreased significantly compared to the previous year, there was also a regret that the recession in the theater district was hardly recovering.
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The film 'Farmyo', which was released in February, attracted 11.91 million people, making it the first '10 million movie' of the year. Director Jang Jae-hyun wrote a new history of 'K-Occult', building a more expanded world view with 'Black Priests' and 'Sabaha'. The acting ensemble of actors who trust and watch has also become an indispensable point to watch. From Choi Min-sik, who turned into a veteran feng shui historian, to Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun, they did their best in their roles and delivered heavy energy.
Ma Dong-seok then attracted 11.5 million viewers with the movie 'Crime City 4', marking the sixth time in his career. Released in April, 'Crime City 4' was directed by Heo Myung-haeng, who was a martial arts director in series 1 to 3, grabbed a megaphone and drew a pleasant crime action. Following Yoon Gye-sang in the first film, Son Seok-gu in the second film, and Lee Joon-hyuk in the third film, Kim Moo-yeol joined as a new villain in the fourth film and performed a striking action. 'The Outlaws' is a series planned for up to eight episodes, and is scheduled to meet with the audience with five episodes in 2026.
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With two 10 million films, the theater opened its doors in 2024, but the Korean film industry has yet to emerge from the recession. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated computer network for movie theater tickets, the total number of visitors to theaters this year is 122.33 million. The figure is down slightly from last year's total audience of 125.13 million and markedly from the total audience of 226.67 million in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, there are only three Korean films with scores of 2 to 5 million among this year's releases: 'pilot', 'escape', and 'Firefighter'. Ticket prices and OTT-oriented viewing patterns, which have risen sharply since the pandemic, have made it difficult to record the break-even point as well as the cumulative number of viewers exceeding 1 million. As the number of film productions has gradually decreased, the appeal of actors who have lost their opportunities to appear is also growing.
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Several films had difficulty releasing because they were caught up in the actors' privacy risks. The late Lee Sun-kyun suddenly passed away during an investigation into drug charges in December last year, shocking him. Since then, the release of the films 'Escape: Project Silence' and 'Happiness Land' has been postponed indefinitely, but his last passionate performance will be seen when he was caught in the theater last summer.
Yoo Ah-in was indicted in October last year on charges of habitually administering medical propofol 181 times at hospitals in Seoul from September 2020 to March 2022. Between May 2021 and August 2022, he was charged with illegally buying 1,100 sleeping pills of two types under the name of another person 44 times, and smoking marijuana in the United States with four accomplices, including Choi, an acquaintance. The prosecution demanded a four-year prison term for a toddler accused of taking habitual drugs and prescribing sleeping pills on behalf of him at an appeal hearing held by the Seoul High Court's Criminal Department 5 (Chief Judge Kwon Soon-hyung, Ahn Seung-hoon and Shim Seung-woo) on the 24th. As he was arrested in court, the release date of the leading films 'High Five' and Netflix films 'Victory' also became unclear.
Fireman' (director Kwak Kyung-taek) finished filming in 2020, but its release was postponed indefinitely as lead actor Kwak Do-won was caught drunk driving in September 2022. Kwak Do-won was partially edited in the work and did not participate in promotional activities related to the release. Director Kwak responded to Kwak Do-won's irresponsible behavior as the main actor, saying, `To be honest, I hate and resent it. I think you should take great responsibility for what you have done. Someone who needs deep reflection and self-reflection."
antahn22@sportschosun.com
