Will Ha Jung-woo show his courage with ‘1947 Boston’?

Actor Ha Jung-woo, who was a reliable and popular hit actor, is trying to show his status again with '1947 Boston'. Ha Jung-woo is an actor who has led the Korean film industry, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lee Byung-hun and Lee Jung-jae. But this year was particularly weak. 'Unofficial Operation', which was released last August, performed below expectations.

Ha Jung-woo returned this year with his second film ‘1947 Boston’. The film, based on the true story of Korean athletes who participated in the 1947 Boston International Marathon, is directed by Kang Je-gyu. Ha Jung-woo plays legendary marathoner Son Ki-jeong, who led the athletes as a coach at the time, and Im Si-wan plays Seo Yun-bok, who took first place in the competition.

It ranked second in the box office during the Chuseok holiday. According to the Korean Film Council's integrated computer network on the 1st, '1947 Boston' was viewed by 151,910 viewers the day before, bringing the cumulative number of viewers to 461,412. It is the second most successful of the four-way matches during the Chuseok holiday. It is evaluated that the speed of box office success is slow compared to the quality of the work. With the Hangzhou Asian Games attracting a lot of attention to sports, it is also difficult for a marathon-themed movie to attract attention. In the film industry, there is still the Chuseok holiday, and there are expectations that word-of-mouth will build momentum. However, considering that the break-even point for '1947 Boston' is about 4.5 million people, the pace needs to increase.

As the performance of 'Unofficial Operation' starring Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon, which was released last August, was poor, the lead actor, Ha Jung-woo, is under pressure. According to the Korean Film Council's integrated computer network, the cumulative number of viewers for 'Unofficial Operation' was only 1.05 million.

At that time, Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon volunteered to appear on Sung Si-kyung's YouTube channel and honestly confessed that they had a tearful party due to the poor performance of 'Unofficial Operation'. Ha Jung-woo said to Ju Ji-hoon, “I was drinking yesterday for the first time in a while and the film ended. When asked, “There was a rumor that we had a tearful fight yesterday,” and “Did I have a tearful fight too?” Joo Ji-hoon responded, “Yesterday was our tearful party. He also confessed, “The box (office performance) wasn’t very good.” Then Ha Jung-woo said, “Did I fight in tears too? He expressed his bitterness, saying, “I’m so emotional.”

Joo Ji-hoon said about the unexpectedly poor performance at the box office, “I couldn’t find the reason why the box office was so low. “If the critics’ reviews are bad or the actual audience’s reviews are bad, people will say, ‘We did this and that, so it ended up like this,’ but I can’t figure it out,” he said, complaining of frustration.

At the time, the competing film for ‘Unofficial Operation’ was ‘Smuggling’ starring Jo In-seong. ‘Smuggler’ surpassed 5.14 million viewers and was recorded as the highest-grossing film of the summer.

Movie insiders agree that it is difficult to easily judge whether a movie will be a hit or not. This is because, even if the workmanship and interest are good, it must match the demands of the times for specific materials. In that sense, Ha Jung-woo seems to be having less luck this year. However, Ha Jung-woo deserves to be called a legendary actor who conquered the film industry. The box office success on OTT platforms such as ‘Suriname’ is something that can be given high marks. There is an old saying, ‘Gwontojungrae (捲土重來),’ which means that something comes back blowing away dust. It refers to failing at something, but accumulating strength and starting the task again. It is a time when waiting is necessary.

Ryu Ye-ji, Ten Asia Reporter ryuperstar@tenasia.co.kr