Korean Movie News - The Host Sequel and Jang Dong-Gun returns to big screen

Two recent news reports made me pretty excited - the official sequel to the Korean mega-blockbuster The Host is in the works and popular Hallyu actor Jang Dong-Gun will be returning to the silver screen after an absence of four years.

The Host 2
According to this article, Singapore's Boku Films will be co-producing the sequel to The Host (tentatively named The Host 2) with Korea's Chungeorahm. The director has not been announced yet ... hopefully it will still be the original director of The Host - Bong Joon-ho. The film is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2010. Besides this official sequel, there is a Chinese language sequel that is also in the works, this version will be directed by Ning Hao who is most famous for his dark comedy Crazy Stone. The Chinese sequel was annnounced last June and there were some rumours late last year that popular Hong Kong actor Andy Lau will be the lead actor, but since then there have been no further news or confirmation of this on the web.

Jang Dong-Gun's New Movie
After an absence of four years from Korean moviedom, Jang Dong-gun is finally returning to the big screen. He will star as a very handsome President (see pic below for how good-looking he is ;-P) in a new comedy entitled Good Morning, President. The movie also stars Han Chae-Young (of Sassy Girl, Chun-Hyang fame) as the handsome Pres's love interest (lucky gal!). The film is currently in production and is set to be released in South Korea in October this year. Before this Jang was in the English-language historical action flick The Warrior's Way (formerly known as Laundry Warrior) which is set to be released in the U.S. and U.K. this September. Check out the promo trailer for The Warrior's Way here. I know I will be looking forward to both films ;-)

Source:
http://enjoy.eastday.com/e/20081024/u1a3938570.html, http://popseoul.com/2009/07/21/good-morning-jang-dong-gun/, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/07/135_48739.html
http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/07/from-the-office-of-president-jang-dong-gun/

Pic from http://popseoul.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/jangdonggun_090721_20_289_29.jpg

Tags: The Host sequel, Jang Dong Gun, Good Morning President, upcoming Korean movies.

South Korean Movie D-War Chews Up The Box-Office

D-War looks like it is going to be the new Korean movie phenomenon of 2007! It has grossed an incredible US$42 million in box office takings ever since its release in South Korea on August 1. Not only that, D-War's box office earnings over its first five days of release was almost $20 million, achieving a top 5 ranking on the list of top-grossing films worldwide over that same time frame.

Although D-War is a Korean movie (it is helmed by comedian turned director Sim Hyung-rae, has Korean financing and its special fx is all locally done), it is unlike other Korean movies as the story is largely set in downtown Los Angeles and stars an all American cast. The film is in essence a giant-monster-terrorising-big-city type of movie in the vain of Godzilla and King Kong but the monster this time round is a 500 year old giant serpent from a Korean legend that is on the verge of turning into a nasty dragon that can wreck even more havoc. And the all American hero and heroine are the reincarnations of the brave Korean warrior and the beautiful Korean maiden terrorised by the dragon 500 years ago... hmmm... the dragon and his old foes sure planned the time of their rebirths pretty accurately haha ;-)

I have not seen the film yet but based on what I have seen of the trailers, it does seem pretty exciting although the serpent/dragon does look a little B-grade movieish...

Here is the trailer from YouTube. Looking forward to watching the movie real soon :-)



Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/d_war/news/1663510/; http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/1885/53/;
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2365&p=.htm;
http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070816_colins_review_d_war.html

Tags: D-war, Korean Movie, Korean film, monster movie, thriller

South Korean Actress Wins Cannes Best Actress Award

Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon for winning the Best Actress award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film Secret Sunshine by director Lee Chang-dong. In the film, Jeon Do-yeon plays a woman struggling to maintain her sanity after the death of her husband and son. She is only the second Asian actress to win this prestigious award after Maggie Cheung won it in 2004 for her role in director Olivier Assayas's Clean.

Here is the trailer for Secret Sunshine that I found on YouTube. Just from the trailer I can tell that Jeon gave a fantastically heart-rending performance in this film and richly deserved her Best Actress win.




Tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Chang-dong, Secret Sunshine, Cannes, Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival, Korean film, Korean movie.

The Two Versions Of Hwang Jin Yi

Korea's legendary gisaeng Hwang Jin Yi or Hwang Jini is moving from the small screen to the big screen this June. While the TV drama serial had Ha Ji Won (top pic) playing the beautiful and talented 16th century gisaeng (female entertainer), the movie will star sweetie pie Song Hye Kyo (bottom pic) in the title role.


It is certainly going to be a challenging role for Song as prior to this movie her roles have mostly been female leads in romantic comedies (e.g. Full House) or dramas that had relatively straightforward story lines and not all that much character development. But she will certainly need to exercise her acting chops this time round as Hwang Jini was a complex character and had a dramatic life story. Ha Ji Won managed to win the prestigious KBS Acting Awards' Dae Sang with her portrayal of Hwang Jin Yi.


Who will be the more memorable Hwang Jin Yi? Well, its too early to say as the movie is not out yet but I managed to find the trailer for Song Hye Kyo's Hwang Jini on You Tube and you can judge for yourself. Enjoy the trailer and watch out for the movie :-)












[Pictures from YesAsia and http://yummycelebrities.com/2007/03/01/song-hye-kyo-finished-filming-hwang-jin-i/]


Tags: Hwang Jin Yi, Hwang Jini, Korean Movie, Song Hye Kyo, Ha Ji Won, Korean Drama Serial.