The ‘Hero’ associated with ‘Avatar 2’ is like a zombie.

《Kang Min-kyung’s Insert》
Like an insert scene that magnifies important points in a movie, TenAsia reporter Kang Min-kyung focuses on issues in the film industry. Let’s take a closer look at the front and back of the hot topic from a three-dimensional perspective.

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Through the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, the cheering phrase 'The important thing is an unbreakable heart' became a meme in Korea. This phrase resembles the movie ‘Hero’ (directed by Yoon Je-gyun).

The movie 'Hero' starring Jung Sung-hwa and Kim Go-eun was released on December 21 last year. The release date of the Hollywood blockbuster movie 'Avatar: Path of Water' is only one week apart. Coach Yoon Je-gyun chose to compete head-on. I was confident because I made it with that much sincerity.

‘Avatar: Path of Water’ surpassed 10 million viewers within 42 days of its release. As a result, it became the first work to exceed 10 million in 2023. 'Avatar: Waterways' The previous film 'Avatar' also exceeded 10 million, making director James Cameron the double million director.

On the other hand, 'Hero' recorded a cumulative audience of 2,959,789 as of January 25th. There is still a long way to go to reach the break-even point of 3.5 million people, but the drop rate is not that big. Although the seat occupancy rate is only 7.7%, the seat sales rate is as high as 28.9%. The number of visitors to Nth is increasing due to belated word of mouth.

The pace may be slow, but the images of director Je-gyun Yoon, Jeong-hwa Jeong, Jeong-nam Bae, and Jin-joo Park who treat the 'heroes' with sincerity for the hope of just 1% of the ever-increasing number stand out. On January 23rd, during the Lunar New Year holiday, director Je-gyun Yoon, Seong-hwa Jeong, Jae-yoon Jo, Jeong-nam Bae, and Jin-joo Park met directly with the audience through stage greetings in the fifth week of the release. It is known that this stage greeting was suggested by director Yoon Je-gyun.

In particular, Bae Jeong-nam and Park Jin-joo conducted an interview in the 5th week of release, which is unusual. Bae Jeong-nam said, "I said in the group chat room, 'It's not over yet, so don't relax.' Unusually, our movie is not being dropped. It's an unusual case. I think we can reach the break-even point of 3.5 million by the weekend of Lunar New Year." Jinju Park said, "All the actors are sincere about 'Hero'. He is a really proud child, but it seems like they don't know my child. But if I do something, I think many people will recognize and look at me."

'Hero' depicts the unforgettable last year of Ahn Jung-geun, who killed Ito Hirobumi in Harbin in October 1909 and was sentenced to death by a Japanese court, from the time he prepared for his rebellion to the moment of his death. story. It is a film adaptation of the original musical ‘Hero’. Art director Yoon Ho-jin also praised the film adaptation of ‘Hero’.

Art director Yoon Ho-jin said, "I think director Yoon Je-gyun took a reckless challenge. It's difficult to make a proper musical film in Korea. Moreover, it was made based on the story of Dr. Ahn Jung-geun," and added, "I was very surprised when I saw the finished version. I credited director Yoon Je-gyun with courage." “I think ‘Hero’ will be an important point in our film history,” he said.

Jeong Seong-hwa, who played Dr. Ahn Jung-geun both on stage and on screen, said, "Gukbong (a sarcastic expression of excessive patriotism) can be a mocking word. Saying things like 'Our country is amazing' or 'Because we have people like this in our country, we can do it like this without developing'. “I think it’s a word of caution,” he said. He added, "'Hero' contains the meaning of suggesting the direction that we need to develop further because there are people like Ahn Jung-geun. So, I don't think it goes well with the word Gukppong."

'Hero', filled with the sincerity of director Yoon Je-gyun and other actors, is drawing a steady graph. It shows consistent performance, neither rising nor falling. So it's like a zombie. It also resembles the phrase, ‘The important thing is an unbreakable heart.’ 'Hero', which has a low drop rate, will soon surpass 3 million. Accordingly, attention is being paid to whether it will be possible to exceed 3 million and the break-even point of 3.5 million.

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr