Hyun Bin is expected to easily win the year-end blockbuster competition with Song Joong-ki. The two actors were expected to have a fierce box office competition with their ambitious films ‘Harbin’ and ‘Bogota: Land of Last Chance’ (Bogota) released just a week apart, but the winner seems to have been decided early due to the favorable reviews for ‘Harbin’, which came out first, and the lower-than-expected response for ‘Bogota’.

○‘Harbin’ landslide victory over ‘Bogota’

According to the Integrated Computer Network for Movie Tickets on the 2nd, ‘Harbin’, which was released on the 24th of last month, has maintained the top spot at the box office for 9 days since its release, surpassing 3 million cumulative viewers, drawing a total of 3,094,690 people to theaters as of the 1st. This is a faster box office success than the 10 million movie ‘Spring of Seoul’, which surpassed 3 million in just 10 days of screening, and it even showed explosive audience mobilization by gathering over 840,000 people on Christmas.

‘Bogota’, which was considered a strong competitor to ‘Harbin’, was released on the 31st of last month, but failed to dampen the momentum of ‘Harbin’ due to its lower-than-expected popularity. Even on the January 1st holiday when audiences flock to theaters, it only attracted about 90,000 viewers, less than a third of the 340,000 ‘Harbin’ attracted.

‘Bogota’, far from being a rival to ‘Harbin’, is rapidly falling even in the CGV Golden Egg index, the ‘actual audience rating’, which is considered an indicator that has a significant impact on box office performance immediately after its release. As of the 2nd, the Golden Egg Index for ‘Bogota’ is 79%, recording the lowest score among currently showing movies.
○ Word of Mouth for ‘A Movie That Represents the Current Situation’

‘Harbin’ is doing well at the box office, and the public opinion that the movie, which depicts the story of an independence fighter who resists the injustice of the Japanese colonial rule, is “approaching with even more meaning”, as it overlaps with the current impeachment situation condemning ‘the wrong leader’, is heating up even more.

In particular, a line from the movie that seems to represent reality is gaining attention online and adding strength to word of mouth. “Joseon is a country that has been ruled by foolish kings and corrupt scholars for hundreds of years, but the people of that country are the biggest problem. The representative example is Ambassador Ito Hirobumi, played by Japanese actress Lily Franky, who says, “Even though he has received nothing, he exerts strange powers whenever there is a national crisis.”

Hyun Bin’s profound narration that decorates the ending of the movie is also a hot topic. “The darkness will grow thicker and the wind will blow stronger. We must light a fire. People will gather. When people gather, we will walk together in the darkness holding fire. We must not give up and move forward. We will walk together in the darkness holding fire.” There is a response that the line reminds people of candlelight vigils.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com