Asian Movie Myths Debunked!

Korean movies are edgy and violent.
Most box office hits in Korea would give a diabetic sugar shock. In 2004, the four top-grossing flicks were TAE GUK GI (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN-style war melodrama), MY LITTLE BRIDE, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL and GHOST HOUSE (a comedy/horror flick). In 2003, OLDBOY was beaten at the box office by MY TUTOR FRIEND (romantic comedy) and sold about as many tickets as OH! BROTHERS. Romances and romantic comedies are pretty much king in Korea, and directors like Kim Ki-Duk (THE ISLE, 3 IRON) are reviled (Kim won't give interviews after the Korean press said his parents had raised a sociopath). Park Chan-Wook's OLDBOY did good business, but his previous movie, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, was a bomb.

The Hong Kong Film Industry is Dead.
Everyone keeps saying this. They point out that in the late 80's and early 90's the city was churning out 300 movies a year and is now down to 50. That's more the result of the late-80's film bubble creating an unsustainable level of production than anything else. At that time, anyone who found some loose change in yesterday's pants could and would produce a movie that turned a profit. Since then, the bubble has burst due to overproduction, among other factors. While a lot of very good people have a hard time finding work in Hong Kong these days, it's much more reasonable for a city of about 9 million people to produce 50-60 movies a year, rather than 300-350.

Bollywood is the next big thing.
Back in 2001, content-hungry magazines crossed paths with money-hungry freelance writers who pitched them the following story: Bollywood is about to cross over. In 2001, MONSOON WEDDING and the theatrical release of LAGAAN were supposed to herald the beginning of the Bollywood crossover. In 2002, it was supposed to happen again, with the out-of-competition screening of DEVDAS in Cannes. Then, in 2003, Aishwarya Rai's publicists earned their money and the Bollywood crossover was written about again. In 2004, BOMBAY DREAMS and Gurinder Chadha's BRIDE AND PREJUDICE came to the US, prompting another round of the same old article.

Reality? LAGAAN flopped, BOMBAY DREAMS closed up shop quickly, DEVDAS didn't cross over, Aishwarya Rai has priced herself out of Bollywood and still hasn't found success in Hollywood, and BRIDE AND PREJUDICE and MONSOON WEDDING combined still haven't equaled what the AMITYVILLE HORROR remake made on its opening weekend. Recently, Lincoln Center held a retrospective of Amitabh Bachchan's films. Bachchan is the iconic Bollywood actor, who was voted "Most Popular Movie Star in the World" in a BBC poll a few years ago. Attendance at some of the screenings was as low as 16 people.