This Week in Korean Cinema (27 June - 1 July 2011)

Now that the Sydney Film Festival is over, and the Melbourne International Film Festival is only weeks away, we can start turning our attention back to Korean film news, and more importantly, KOFFIA 2011 on in Sydney from August 24-29 and Melbourne from September 10-13.

New releases

We've missed a few weeks of new releases due to the Sydney Film Festival, where Jo Sung-Hee's End of Animal (조성희) made its Australian debut, so we'll get to the catch-up in just a moment. Just yesterday, Son Yeong-Seong's courtroom thriller The Client (의뢰인) was released in South Korea, and we'll look forward to seeing how that performs next week.

Other new releases have included Poongsan (풍산개), about a courier who ferries messages between North and South Korean, K-pop horror film White (화이트: 저주의 멜로디) and the animated Green Days (소중한 날의 꿈).

Box Office (June 24 - 26)

Despite being released way back at the start of May, Sunny (써니) found itself back at the top of the box office. it's the movies 8th weekend at the South Korean box office (June 24-26), and after selling more than 500,000 tickets to date, Sunny returned to the #1 spot after hovering in the top ten for five weeks. It has made over 42,032,285,100 Won (or about AUS $36,870,713) so far at the South Korean box office.

Poongsan was another new entry to the charts, coming in at #3, while K-pop horror film White and the animated Green Days took the #5 and #10 spots respectively. Overall, home-grown products accounted for over 46% of the total box office revenue in South Korea this week. An impressive feat considering the likes of Kung Fu Panda 2, Green Lantern, Super 8 and X-Men: First Class were their competitors.

News

• The Melbourne International Film Festival has announced a number of Korean films will be added to their Accent on Asia program, with Ryoo Seung-Wan's blockbuster The Unjust (부당거래) joining Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives (북촌방향) and Na Hong-jin's The Yellow Sea (황해).
• A 30-second trailer has been revealed for the upcoming Korean drama The Beast 

We hope your are enjoying this weekly column, so if you have any news to contribute, please email the Blog Editor with the scoop.

Richard is a KOFFIA Blog Editor and a Marketing Assistant for KOFFIA. He can be contacted via email on richard.gray@koffia.com.au

He is also the Editor-in-chief of DVD Bits and The Reel Bits. He can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and @The_ReelBits. In this guise, you can also reach him at richard@thereelbits.com