By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
2 prints is how much? S. Korea hates Korean artpix
Kim Ki-duk, director of The Isle, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring and 3-Iron is not putting his money where the rathole is, aiming The Bow at only two screens in the entire country, and skipping press previews. “I realized that outside of feature films with big budgets and famous stars, people in Korea do not go to theaters to watch art films or low budget films…If billions of won is spent on promotion and many copies of the film are made, losing money becomes inevitable given this reality,” the Korea Times quotes Kim from an email. Its Thursday opening boasted 996 tickets sold in one theater each in Seoul and Pusan, a 20% capacity. Hong Sang-soo ” also believes that showing his film in the same manner as big budget films, which are shown at many theaters with billions of won spent on promotion, will obviously lead him to see another commercial failure and eliminate the chance for his fans to see his movie at theaters. “My previous films have never reached the break-even point, so I have been thinking that I have to reduce production cost. That’s why I established my own production company. And I am now discussing releasing my new film at only certain theaters for a long time with its investment and distribution company,’’ Hong said after previewing his Cannes-bound Tale of Cinema. “Hong said success at film festivals has had nothing to do with domestic commercial success… The domestic investment and distribution company… will release the film only at certain theaters that promise to show it for at least 3 weeks regardless of its commercial success.”