Director Bong Joon-ho‘s Hollywood production, ‘Mickey 17’, seems to have brought spring to the frozen theaters. Director Bong’s ‘Mickey 17’, which came out six years after ‘Parasite’, is drawing audiences to theaters with its overwhelming firepower as soon as it was released. In particular, some of the settings that seem to represent real society and politics are creating a buzz and adding strength to word of mouth.

According to the Integrated Computer Network for Movie Tickets on the 3rd, ‘Mickey 17’, which was released on the 28th of last month, recorded a cumulative audience of 1,117,586 as of 6:55 am that day, surpassing 1 million viewers in just 4 days since its release. This is the same pace as ‘Inside Out 2’, the highest-grossing foreign film last year, and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, which mobilized over 8 million viewers in 2022.

Prior to this, in the first weekend of its release (February 28-March 2), it monopolized the audience by mobilizing 980,000 viewers, which was nine times more than ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ (110,000 viewers), which ranked second at the box office. Not only did it set the record for the highest opening for a film this year by gathering 240,000 viewers on the first day of its release, but it also surpassed the opening number of ‘Spring in Seoul’ on the first day (200,000 viewers) that surpassed 10 million viewers last year.

In particular, some of the settings in the film that seem to represent major political situations at home and abroad are becoming a hot topic online and are spreading by word of mouth. In particular, the leader of the planetary colony, Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), who leads the main character Mickey (Robert Pattinson), and his wife Ilpi (Toni Collette) are reminiscent of certain politicians, drawing attention.

Most viewers praised Director Bong Joon-ho‘s unique speaking style and directing ability, which humorously incorporated such real-world political situations and social issues such as labor exploitation into the unrealistic SF genre. Film critic Lee Dong-jin also left a one-line review, saying, “The exciting paradox that expands as you delve deeper is contained in humor that shines like the morning star.”

However, some are saying that ‘Mickey 17’ fell short of the enormous expectations for Director Bong Joon-ho’s next film. This is also reflected in the CGV Golden Egg Index, which is a 91% audience rating. 91% is a high score, but considering that it is Director Bong‘s film, it is a rating that falls short of expectations. Director Bong’s previous work, ‘Parasite’, recorded 97%.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.