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2015 has been a very busy year for Korean cinema, as busy as ever. It was briefly static in the first half due to the MERS outbreak, but soon regained vitality in the summer season. Let us take a look at some of the major issues in 2015 Korean cinema through figures.

 

 

 

2015 would probably be an unforgettable year for LEE Jung-hyun. She made her very strong screen debut in 1996 in A Petal and swept most rookie actor awards that year. Her popularity continued as she made a debut as a singer as well. However, as her popularity as an entertainer increased, her presence as an actress diminished.

 

Alice In Earnestland is a film to re-prove her presence as an actress. This film has been praised as among the best independent films of 2015 and LEE received the Best Actress award at the Blue Dragon Awards for the first time in 20 years since her debut. However, she was in the film without being paid to cheer up independent film scene. LEE was also in Juvenile Offender (2012) without getting paid.

 

 

 

It has been 12 years since Silmido (2003) made the first record ever for a Korean film to reach 10 million viewers. This year, 2 films, released with 2 weeks’ difference, have successively established 10-million-viewer records. The two films to have opened a new era of 10 million viewers are CHOI Dong-hoon’s Assassination and RYOO Seung-wan’s Veteran.

 

Set in the Japanese Occupation period, Assassination made success both critique-wise and profit-wise, attracting 12.7 million audiences nationwide. Veteran was released 2 weeks later than Assassination but the speed to reach 10 million viewers was faster, it was the 4th in entire Korean film history. The final score for Veteran is 13.41 million admissions, which marks the 3rd place in the entire Korean film box office history. Assassination is at the 7th place.

 

Besides, there is one more Korean film to attract more than 10 million viewers in 2015. Ode To My Father, released in December 2014 and therefore a quasi 2015 film, has attracted 14.26 million viewers which is the second most audiences in Korean film history. It makes 15 films altogether to have reached 10 million viewers in the Korean box office history.

 

 

 

The total number of theater-goers adds up to 208 million in 2015. Since the number of viewers went over 200 million for the first time with 213,346,935 viewers in 2013, the number of domestic viewers hit over 200 million in 3 successive years. In 2014, a record of 215,067,760 people visited theaters. This year, the success owes to 10 or so films which each attracted more than 5 million viewers, including the two 10 million films (Assassination and Veteran), The Priests (5,439,447 viewers), The Throne (6,246,851 viewers), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (6,126,488 viewers) and Jurassic World (5,546,792 viewers).

 

The reason why the overall number decreased than the last two years is thought to be the MERS outbreak. However, it is not time to finalize yet. The Himalayas, The Tiger, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are only at the second week of release. As December is the hottest season for films, we might as well expect the biggest number of viewers ever. 

 

 

 

Among the unexpected success in 2015 was that of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, re-released in 10 years. It is Michel Gondry’s fantasy melodrama, and was warmly received critique-wise as a unique melodrama. However this film only had 150,000 admissions nationwide in Korea, perhaps due to the very complex storyline.

 

That is why its current success is all the more surprising. In the first weekend of re-release it was ranked at the 8th place in the box office, and as time went by, the number of viewers kept increasing. It finally expanded screen rooms and marched on, until it went over the number of viewers at the first release, which is a very rare phenomenon. The total number of viewers that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has received is more than 300,000 so far. 

 

 

 

Inside Men has renewed the history of R-rated movies (or “19-geum” movies, meaning movies banned to younger than 19 year olds). On the 3rd day of release, Inside Men broke the record of the most admissions in one single day among R-rated movies, by attracting 489,515 viewers. It also broke the record of the fastest R-rated film to reach 1 million viewers, in just 3 days.

 

These records are all the more impressive because, even though November is traditionally a slow month for films, the number of viewers kept increasing until it broke this year’s previous record among R-rated movies held by Kingsman: The Secret Service (6,129,681 viewers), and even the all time record held by The Man From Nowhere (6,178,569 viewers) in 2010. As of December 23rd, Inside Men has reached 6.54 million viewers. Since it has been staying in the No. 5 chart for more than one whole month since release, its record may go farther.

 

 

 

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the biggest international film festival in Asia, has celebrated its 20 years’ anniversary. Under the LEE Yong-kwan - KANG Soo-yeon regime, BIFF has reached the coming of age. BIFF this year opened with an Indian film Zubaan and screened 304 films from 75 countries worldwide. BIFF this year held several special programs to celebrate its 20th year anniversary, including “Asian Cinema 100” which is a selection of the 100 most eminent Asian films and directors made by film experts from all over the world, and “Hidden Masterpieces,” as part of Korean cinema retrospective. The success of the 2015 BIFF is also reflected in numbers: it has received the biggest audience (227,377) and the most number of GVs (Guest Visit) were held, which was 353 times.