With his new monster flick ¡°D-war¡±, director Shim Hyung-rae has created a box-office sensation. The movie has attracted 2.2 million viewers in the first four days since its release, distributor Showbox said Sunday. If audience rates for Saturday held and another 790,000 moviegoers saw it on Sunday, the movie will have draws 3 million viewers in five days, beating the all-time record set by Bong Joon-ho¡¯s ¡°The Host¡±, which managed 2.63 million viewers in five days.
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"D-War" director Shim Hyung-rae
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But with success has come controversy over quality and marketing strategy. Leesong Hee-il, the director of ¡°No Regret¡±, has issued a challenge on his website titled ¡°To blind fans of director Shim Hyung-rae.¡± His comments are cutting. ¡°D-war is not a movie,¡± he writes. ¡°It¡¯s like a successful imitation of U.S. toasters assembled in Cheonggyecheon in the 1970s.¡±
He also criticized the ¡°D-war¡± marketing strategy, which is heavy on appeals to viewers¡¯ patriotism. Leesong says Shim is milking emotions for all they¡¯re worth by putting the famous traditional Korean song ¡°Arirang¡± at the end of the movie and talking about his passion and past hardships on every TV show.
The ¡°blind¡± fans were quick to reply, bombarding the blog with such a stream of counterattacks, some full of verbal abuse, that it has now been closed. An article on the story on an Internet portal site had no fewer than 13,600 replies as of 4 p.m. on Sunday. Inevitably, advance ticket sales for ¡°D-war¡± surged by 10 percent, online ticket agency Maxmovie said.
However, there were almost as many posts on the web deriding Shim and his movie, which are inevitably followed by a stream of counterattacks. Underneath the quarrel, complicated factors seem at work: distrust of Chungmuro, Korea¡¯s Hollywood, after movie industry demonstration against a reduction in the screen quota reserved for homemade films, and sympathy with Shim for his arduous efforts and passion for his movie.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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