Following the surprising box office success of ‘Hatchuping of Love’ last year, which became the first domestically produced animation to surpass 1 million viewers in 12 years and garnered a final cumulative audience of 1.24 million, this year, well-made domestic animations targeting both children and adults are being released one after another, attracting attention.

The representative work is ‘The Exorcist’, which was released on the 21st of last month and has been a long-running hit, maintaining the top spot at the box office to this day. This work contains a story about exorcists with special abilities to fight evil, and has garnered favorable reviews for its excellent 3D graphics, sensational design, and dynamic action direction, and has attracted over 440,000 cumulative viewers as of the 17th.

In particular, ‘The Exorcist‘s Record’ is based on a web novel that was serialized on the PC communication service HiTel bulletin board from 1993 and gained explosive popularity, so it is receiving tremendous support from the 30-40 age group who enjoyed the original novel at the time, and word of mouth is spreading to the 10-20 age group as well.

‘Mr. Robot’, which will be released on April 4, will take over from ‘The Exorcist’s Record’. A man who has become a robot and a girl who has lost her family develop a special and one-of-a-kind relationship, an action blockbuster about them. It is the new work of director Lee Dae-hee, who created ‘Padak Padak’, which received favorable reviews for its deep story and shocking ending.

Director Lee said, “In order to produce heavy, high-quality robot action, he “Used dark lighting to express contrasting atmospheres and images for each character and developed the story,”and expressed his determination that this will be a work that will satisfy both adults and children.

The nostalgic cartoon ‘Run, Honey’ is also celebrating its 40th anniversary and is expected to bring ‘adult’ (a portmanteau of adult+child) audiences to the theaters with its first theatrical animation, ‘Bad Girl: Run, Honey’, this year. ‘Run, Honey’ is a comic series that was serialized in the comic magazine ‘Treasure Island’ from the January 1985 issue to the June 1987 issue for a total of 30 episodes. In 1988, it was broadcast as a TV animation on KBS and gained great popularity.

This work will feature original characters such as Honey and her rival Na Ae-ri, track teacher Hong Doo-kae, and Honey‘s boyfriend Lee Chang-soo, as well as new characters exclusive to the movie, such as the new enemy Joo Na-bi who threatens Honey and Na Ae-ri.


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.