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March 06, 2006
KING, CLOWN MAKE KOREAN HISTORY
THE KING AND THE CLOWN has just entered history as the highest-grossing Korean film ever made, beating out the previous record-holder TAE GUK GI.
KING AND CLOWN has sold 11.7 million tickets, meaning that one in four Koreans has seen the film. What's most interesting is that this is a historical comedy/drama with little to no special effects, action scenes or stunts. It's just actors, a good script, and period sets and costumes.
Now we wait and see if this has any effect in the US. Previous "Biggest Korean Movie Ever!" films have been picked up by US distributors: TAE GUK GI (Sony), SILMIDO (Tartan), JSA (Palm), SHIRI (Samuel Goldwyn). But these were all action movies. Record holders like MARATHON (which wasn't on top except for briefly, but was one of the biggest hits of last year) and WELCOME TO DONGMAKOL have been left alone, and my guess is that a movie like THE KING AND THE CLOWN won't find a US distributor, either.
March 6, 2006 at 12:00 PM in News | Permalink
Comments
Not 100% sure, but I think they're using 'The Royal Jester' as the International title. And there's a longer International Cut in the making, with a little more historical background. DVD should be out this Summer.
Posted by: x | Mar 6, 2006 10:58:02 PM
Do you think the gay angle will help its chances in the U.S.? (Admittedly, it's not very explicit, judging from Darcy Paquet's review.) I suspect that's the only reason TROPICAL MALADY got released here.
Posted by: Steve | Mar 9, 2006 2:14:46 PM
Summer is around Mid-June right?
anyway, i think it's a great movie.
i think it should be introduced world wide and change the people's perception of homosexual.
Just like the movie Brokeback Mountain directed by Ang Lee
Posted by: Serena | Mar 12, 2006 5:38:22 AM
WOW I watched the trailer and music video on youtube.com and i was blown away by the fanciful costumes and the beautiful and hauntingly poignant theme song (In Yeon sung by Lee Hee Sun)! I really cant wait to catch it in my country Singapore (which is bad news cos films take alot of time to gain approval. Brokeback Mountain was allowed thanks to the Oscar hype.)!!! And yes, Lee Jun-ki is really so pretty that as a real woman I pale in comparison. Someone PLEASE put up the dvd for sale on ebay or something before I go mad waiting!!!
Posted by: Queenie | Mar 15, 2006 11:46:13 AM
I was totally blown away by the music video too!!! but no hope of getting a hold of it... boohoo.. living in Malaysia. I was totally shocked too when i found out lee jun ki is a guy!! He's prettier than me!!
Posted by: gila grace | Mar 25, 2006 5:53:23 AM
like you guys...I too have problems getting a copy here in the Philppines...even though Lee Junki is a newbie... he still mesmerized a lot of people and it even gained him lots of supporters and admirers and aside from the talent he's got the looks too...i think he's the hottest and most beautiful asian actor I've ever seen...i'm going ga-ga over him as of now... damn!!! can't wait for the DVD to come out...
Posted by: BethLy | Apr 24, 2006 8:46:24 AM
> i was blown away by the fanciful costumes
I was blown away to discover that all of the Chinese court costumes were made of colored paper. If you go to the Eagle Films office, the costumes are all piled up on a table. It is really surprising how different they look in real life. That old movie magic is pretty ... uh, magical.
Posted by: haisan | Apr 24, 2006 9:41:28 AM
this is wrong... does jun ki even really agree to play his role?! how does he feel ..?
Posted by: Tina | Aug 6, 2006 8:23:00 PM
lee junki did a superb performance...
wow.. good looks, great acting...
what more can u ask for?!
Posted by: che | Sep 20, 2006 6:14:10 AM
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