The Power of Japanese Family Movies
by HWANG Hee-yun /
Aug 14, 2018
KOREEDA Hirokazu, Master of Family-Themed Films
KOREEDA Hirokazu is continuing the tradition of Japanese family movies. Since Nobody Knows, for which YAGIRA Yuya won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival – making him the youngest winner ever – KOREEDA has a long filmography of films focused on families marginalized by society. The story of SHOPLIFTERS does not vary much from his other movies. It portrays a poor family that looks somewhat eccentric but is nonetheless warm-hearted. Released on July 26th in Korea, KOREEDA’s latest film has been ranking top (it is the fastest to attract 100,000 viewers among non-mainstream films released in 2018) and recorded the highest occupancy rate (24.2%) at the non-mainstream Korean box office in the last three weeks. This Palme d’Or winner has attracted more than 100,000 moviegoers after 13 days of release. The movie’s audience is expected to exceed the 126,795 total admission haul of Like Father, Like Son, the director’s highest-grossing movie in Korea so far. SHOPLIFTERS is doing well not only in Korea, but also all over Asia, including Japan and China. Since its Japanese premiere on June 8th, the movie has so far drawn 3,493,364 moviegoers, earning more than USD 38.6 million (JPY 4,277,037,000). It also grossed USD 7 million (CNY 48.6 million) on its opening day in China. This family drama will also be released in Europe and the U.S. and it will be interesting to see how it performs there.
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