Have you only seen Mission Impossible 7 Elemental? Korean movies to watch after Sin City 3

What kind of works can hit theaters this summer? Looking at the current box office hits, there are two that stand out. 'Elemental' and 'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning PART ONE' (hereinafter referred to as 'Mission Impossible 7') are the main characters. Disney and Pixar's animated film 'Elemental', which was released on June 14, continues to be a long-term box office hit for a month. As of 6:37 p.m. on the 15th, 'Elemental', which exceeded 4 million, began to run in the second half compared to the sluggish performance at the beginning. Through word of mouth, 'Elemental' is expected to rise further. On the other hand, 'Mission: Impossible 7', which was released on the 12th, took first place at the box office in 4 days after its release. Then, as of the 15th, it exceeded 1.3 million viewers, proving the potential of actor Tom Cruise.

Amid the unrivaled race of foreign films, Korean films are currently in a sluggish state with no clear box office hits. Of course, we cannot leave out the existence of 'Criminal City 3' (director Lee Sang-yong), which has surpassed 10 million viewers, but it was released on May 31st. It is difficult to find a Korean film that has settled in the top 5 at the box office, except for 'Sin City 3', which succeeded in the box office success of the series. As of the 15th, 'Mission Impossible 7' ranked first, 'Elemental' ranked second, 'Summer Day Us' ranked third, 'Sin City 3' ranked fourth, and 'Spider-Man: A Cross the Universe' ranked fifth. The fact that only 'Criminal City', which has been out for over a month and a half since its release, remains in the box office rankings, which is probably why the Korean movie crisis theory is resurfacing.

It is not that Korean films have not been released in the meantime. Following 'The Scion' (director Park Hoon-jeong) on June 21st, 'Devils' (director Kim Jae-hoon) and 'Between No Gap' (director Lee Woo-chul), which were released on the same day as 'The Devil' (director Kim Jae-hoon) on July 5, and 'Good. That. Goo' (director Park Sang-min) has been released. Of course, in the case of 'Like, That, Go', it was nominated for Korean Fantastic in the competition section of the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and audiences are continuing to step forward through word of mouth that it is fun. 'Close Relationship' is also outside the box office rankings, but it is receiving a lot of attention from overseas film festivals, such as being officially invited to the 27th Canama Fantasia International Film Festival.

Then why doesn't it lead to box office success? The ironic situation that popularity is falling compared to the interest of overseas film festivals seems to be a homework that Korean films must solve. It shows various genres such as action noir, thriller, romance, and comedy, but the audience's choice is 'Mission: Impossible 7' and 'Elemental', and the box office record is sluggish. The 'Korean film crisis theory', which has been continuously discussed for several years, is recognized because audiences do not seek other Korean films that are not important for the explosive success of one film.

Of course, even this summer, tentpole movies (aka blockbuster movies) are scrambling to be released. Director Ryoo Seung-wan's new film 'Smuggling', who has been recognized for his directing skills in 'Mogadishu' (2021), 'Veteran' (2015) and 'Berlin' (2013), will be released on the 26th. 'Smuggling' tells the story of Chun-ja (Kim Hye-soo), who finds out about the world of smuggling, where you can make a lot of money just by retrieving items thrown into the sea, and makes an attractive proposal to the leader of the haenyeo, Jin-suk (Yeom Jeong-ah). It is also the first work in which director Ryoo Seung-wan, who has only taken male characters as the main characters, has a female character as the main character for the first time. Following the Netflix series 'Kingdom: Asinjeon' (2021), 'Tunnel' (2016), and 'Going to the End' (2014), director Kim Seong-hoon, who directed sensationally, will also release 'Unofficial Operation' on August 2nd. Is expected. Following 'Along with the Gods', it is a work that attracts the attention of the audience with the meeting of actors Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon. 'Unofficial Operation' is a story that takes place in 1987 when diplomat Min-jun (Ha Jung-woo) goes to Lebanon. It is a buddy movie about an unofficial operation to rescue another missing diplomat in Lebanon, where he meets Korean taxi driver Pansu (Joo Ji-hoon) and solves the case.

'The Moon', which opens on the same day, is a science fiction film. This is a new film by director Kim Yong-hwa, who surpassed 10 million viewers with the movie 'Along with the Gods' series. In the winter of 2017 and the summer of 2018, attention is focused on director Kim Yong-hwa's directing of 'Along with the Gods', which captivated the audience. 'The Moon' tells the story of only Hwang Seon-woo (Do Kyung-soo) being left alone on the moon due to a sunspot explosion while the Korean lunar probe Woori is on a journey in 2029. Lastly, 'Concrete Utopia' (directed by Uhm Tae-hwa) draws attention with the appearance of a large number of actors with acting skills such as Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, and Park Bo-young, and the setting of a disaster movie. The film will be released on August 9th. 'Concrete Utopia' depicts a disaster situation based on the second part of 'Pleasant Bullying', a popular webtoon by author Kim Soong-nyuk, which has been well-received since its serialization in 2014. The film is the story of the residents living in the only space that has not collapsed in Seoul, which was devastated by the earthquake, the Imperial Palace Apartment.

Aside from tentpole films, 'Sweet Sea: 0710' (director Lee Han), which drew attention as Yoo Hae-jin's first romantic comedy, will be released on August 15th. We plan to further expand the diversity of genres in the Korean film industry, where it is difficult to find the romantic comedy genre. 'Sweet Sea: 0710' depicts the process of discovering a new taste in life due to 'Il-young' (Kim Hee-sun) appearing in front of Chi-ho (Yoo Hae-jin), a confectionery researcher who only knows about sweets. Also attracting attention is actor Jung Woo-sung's first feature film director challenge, 'Guardian'. 'Guardian', which received the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award: Achievement Award at the 42nd Hawaii International Film Festival, will be released on August 15th as an attention-grabbing work despite Jung Woo-sung's first challenge. 'Guardian' is about Soo-hyeok (Jung Woo-sung), who was released from prison after 10 years, who finds out that he has a hidden daughter and wants to live a normal life away from the organization, but the organization refuses to let him go.

However, it is unclear whether the tentpole movie, which is eagerly awaiting release, can put an end to the Korean movie crisis. Even if you look at last year alone, the box office performance of tentpole films was truly disastrous. Starting with Part 1 of 'Alien+' (director Choi Dong-hoon), 'Hansan: The Emergence of the Dragon' (director Kim Han-min), 'Emergency Declaration' (director Han Jae-rim), and 'Hunt' (director Lee Jung-jae) were released one after another. If you combine the production costs of the four films, the situation boasted a huge scale of 110 billion. Part 1 of 'Alien + Man', which was released on July 20, 2022, which participated as the first runner, failed miserably at the box office even though it was directed by Choi Dong-hoon. The film, which invested 33 billion won in production cost, stopped at 1.53 million cumulative audiences after its release. The break-even point was 7 million, and it was an unexpected figure even if we only looked at director Choi Dong-hun's previous films, which were box office hits for each film. The second runner, 'Hansan: The Rise of the Dragon' (hereinafter referred to as 'Hansan'), had better results. 'Hansan', which was released on July 27, 2022, recorded a cumulative audience of 7.26 million, narrowly exceeding the break-even point of 6 million. Director Kim Han-min, who has continued the Yi Sun-sin series, reenacted the Battle of Hansan-do on the screen, but it did not attract a large number of viewers compared to the material.

The report card of the third runner, 'Emergency Declaration', also failed to exceed expectations. It was even a meeting with actors Kang-ho Song, Byung-hun Lee, Jeon Do-yeon, Nam-gil Kim, and Si-wan Si-wan, and director Han Jae-rim of 'The King' (2017) and 'Contemplation' (2013). 'Emergency Declaration', which was released on August 3, 2022, only had 2.05 million cumulative audiences along with harsh reviews from the audience. 'Emergency Declaration', in which 30 billion won was invested, similar to the first part of 'Alien + Man', recorded disastrous results compared to its popularity. The last runner, 'Hunt', attracted attention as actor Lee Jung-jae's directorial debut. In particular, as it was invited to the Midnight Screening section of the 75th Cannes International Film Festival, much anticipation was focused on the film. However, it left a rather disappointing result with a cumulative audience of 4.35 million.

Of course, the number of cumulative audiences and box office rankings are not all factors that determine a film's cinematic quality. Even if the box office performance is not good, if it is well received by the critics and the audience reaches through word of mouth, that too can be a factor in evaluating the movie. The movie 'Decision to Break Up' by director Park Chan-wook, which was released on June 29, 2022, had a cumulative audience of 1.89 million, but it also led to relay viewing by audiences. Moreover, he proved his potential by receiving the Best Director Award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. As such, it is an objective index, so we pay attention to the ranking or the number of viewers, but there are also films that remain in the memory of the audience for a long time due to their separate work quality.

What will this summer of 2023 be like? Expectations and interest are focused on Korean films that are about to be released. Will it be able to change the performance of Korean films, which have been sluggish, or will it become a film with high quality and captivate the audience? Since it is still unopened, it is impossible to make hasty predictions, and no one knows the result until the box is opened. I just hope that Korean films about to be released will become a spark of hope in front of the Korean film crisis theory.

Reporter Lee Ha-neul, Ten Asia greenworld@tenasia.co.kr