There was no ‘Yoo Ah-in risk’.

Movies that had long-term delays or faced negative public opinion due to lead actor Yoo Ah-in being caught using drugs, but had ‘box office risks’, have been released one after another, and have succeeded in ‘reversing box office success’ one after another with their perfection and entertainment as their weapons.

A representative example is ‘High Five’, which is currently holding the top spot at the box office.The comic hero film ‘High Five’, starring Yoo Ah-in, Lee Jae-in, Ra Mi-ran, Ahn Jae-hong, and Park Jin-young, was released on the 30th of last month and is currently taking the top spot, beating out Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission Impossible - Final Reckoning’, Disney’s ‘Lilo & Stitch’, and Lee Je-hoon and Yoo Hae-jin’s ‘Soju Wars’.

Before the release, director Kang Hyung-chul revealed that he “did not reveal Yoo Ah-in’s screen time in order to complete the story,” and there were some bitter criticisms from viewers who had negative views on Yoo Ah-in’s return.However, after the release, the film received favorable reviews for its ability to bring out the fun of the comic action genre, and succeeded in gaining a “box office lead.” As if to prove this, CGV Golden Egg Index, which measures actual audience ratings, also received a high score of 95%.

While the lead actors ‘excellent performances are receiving enthusiastic responses, Yoo Ah-in, who plays the role of Ki-dong, a character with the superpower to freely control electromagnetic waves, is also receiving cautious praise for his excellent comic acting.Some even commented, “Yoo Ah-in’s life character is comparable to Jo Tae-oh from ‘Veteran’.”

‘Match’, which was released two months before ‘High Five’, also did not have Yoo Ah-in’s appearance hinder its box office success.In particular, ‘Match’, which features Lee Byung-hun and Yoo Ah-in, had greater concerns about the ‘Yoo Ah-in risk’ than ‘High Five’, which is a multi-casting film, but it easily surpassed the break-even point(1.8 million viewers)as the film received favorable reviews for its interesting adaptation of a true story.The final cumulative audience was 2.14 million, ranking it third in box office sales among Korean films released this year.

Yoo Ah-in played the role of ‘Baduk genius’ Lee Chang-ho in ‘Match’ and showed off his fierce acting skills with ‘acting ghost’ Lee Byung-hun, who played 9-dan Cho Hun-hyun, and received favorable reviews for the film.In particular, he was praised for further expanding his ‘acting spectrum’ with the ‘stone Buddha’ character who does not show emotions or facial expressions in any situation.


Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

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