40 billion investment! Defeated Fulian 3, South Korea's "National Film" sequel returns

Tod 2022-01-23 08:07:40

At the end of last year, the South Korean blockbuster "Walk with God" jumped to the top 2 of South Korean box office history with 14.41 million views, and became a phenomenal film after 17.61 million "Naruto Shippuden".

As we all know, South Korea has a population of only about 51.25 million, and the number of movie viewers exceeds 10 million, which means that 1 out of every 5 people in the country has watched this film, which can be called a "national movie."

In simple terms of our country, one-fifth of the 1.3 billion population is 260 million, which is 7.8 billion at the box office based on 30 tickets.

In August of this year, the sequel returned quickly and once again set off a big wave of heat in the movie market, breaking a number of South Korean box office records in an instant——

Walk with God 2: Cause and Condition

신과함께-인과연

Director: Kim Yong Hwa Starring: Ha Jung Woo / Zhu Ji Hoon / Ma Dong Suk / Kim Hyang Ki / Lee Jung Jae

When the film first made its debut in South Korea on August 1, it reached 1.24 million movie viewers that day, surpassing "Mission Impossible 6" as the top box office champion.

It also broke the record of 1 million movie viewers on the first opening day in Korean history set by "Jurassic World 2" in June, becoming the first local film to achieve this achievement, and successfully took over the record of the highest opening in South Korea. Of the king.

In addition, on August 4, the number of single-day movie viewers reached 1.46 million, defeating the previous record holder, 1.33 million of "Reunion 3", setting a record for the highest single-day movie viewership in South Korea over the years.

And it broke the 6 million passengers mark in just 5 days, surpassing the rate of 5.75 million passengers in the 6 days of "Ningliang Sea Battle", setting a record for the shortest time taken in South Korea in all years.

Compared with the predecessor, the second sequel was two days ahead of schedule, and it took 14 days to break through tens of millions of people, making it the 17th local tens of millions of films in Korean film history.

In overseas markets, after the film was released in Taiwan, China, it received 1.2 million US dollars in the box office on the first day, second only to "Reunion 3", setting the second highest opening performance of the year. Twenty days after its release, the box office exceeded 400 million.

It is a pity that the movie ultimately failed the approval of the Mainland. This supermarket would have helped it set a higher box office record.

The first part of the film tells the story of three envoys from hell who sent the "48th nobleman" Jin Zihong to the underworld to die.

Nobleman: Refers to a kind person who has never committed a serious crime in the world and can safely pass through hell 7 times. Herald of the Underworld: Leading people to hell, is the defense lawyer of the dead, helping them to pass the seven trials smoothly.

This kind-hearted firefighter who rescued a little girl desperately had a lasting pain in his lifetime. He tried to kill his mother because he didn't want his family to suffer.

Although he suffered a lot of torture in Infernal Hell, the three envoys finally succeeded in defending him after several setbacks.

After being separated from his mother's yin and yang, he finally let go of his knots and passed away with peace of mind.

It looks like an unpredictable and exciting blockbuster, but its core is Korean warmth and tears, mixed with universal elements such as family affection, friendship, justice, and reincarnation.

The second part of this time still continued this routine. Jin Zihong's younger brother Jin Xiuhong became the 49th nobleman. If he can successfully die, the three envoys can be reborn in the mortal world.

According to the account in the previous episode, Jin Xiuhong was killed by a friend by mistake and died of injustice. In order to prove his injustice, the envoys made another effort.

In the new film, in addition to continuing to tell the life experience of the nobles, the secrets of the past lives of the three messengers are also added as the main line.

The grievances and grievances between Jie Mai and Jiang Lin also began to surface.

The entanglement between cause and condition, spanning thousands of years of past and present, between the underworld and the sun, will collide in the final judgment on the forty-ninth day.

In fact, "Walk with God" is not simply a box office myth. Looking at the overall situation, it is of vital importance to the upgrade of the entire Korean film market.

We can already smell Han Ying's ambition to upgrade, and their small and darkened signature movie has reached a bottleneck.

According to the 2017 Korean Film Industry Settlement Report, since 13 years, the frequency of Korean audiences watching 4 times a year has not changed for 5 consecutive years.

The saturated Korean film market urgently needs to create a new pattern.

The blockbuster era has to come.

The 16-year-old zombie film "Travel to Busan" is an obvious step, applying the Hollywood blockbuster model to Korean local culture.

Do you still remember the fear of being swiped by Busan in the Moments of Friends?

The film was very successful, and they quickly moved to a higher level-a series of films.

The series of films are undoubtedly the treasures of Hollywood's town house, the box office hegemon of the global film industry, and also represents the most advanced film technology.

With the support of South Korea's increasingly mature technology, this will become the main battlefield of the Korean film in the future.

"Walk with God" is the perfect knife to cut this hole.

It is blessed by the national treasure actor Ha Jung Woo, and it is also popular with the audience.

Ghosts and gods are undoubtedly the most popular theme in recent years and now. South Korea has previously developed the popular idol drama series "Ghosts", which is now based on popular online comics and upgraded to special effects blockbusters.

Special effects are undoubtedly the most intuitive and important symbol of blockbuster films.

The two films "Walk with God" were shot in a set format, costing a total of 40 billion won (approximately 240 million yuan), which is a rare big deal in South Korea.

However, an investment of 120 million yuan is simply too pediatric for us. Our TV series have already soared to this price, but it is effective for bits, and they are very cost-effective.

The most obvious is the creation of the big scene. The film has established a huge "underworld view"—the underworld has the law, and all the dead have to go through the murder, laziness, deception, injustice, and betrayal within 49 days after death. In the seven trials of violent prison and heavenly prison, only the innocent dead can be reborn.

The model is inspired by a set of 10 "Ten Kings" depicting the world of the underworld in the Joseon Dynasty. The scene is magnificent and the aesthetic is online.

It is worth noting that the special effects of the two films "Walk with God" were all produced by the special effects company DEXTER Studios founded by director Jin Ronghua. Yes, they were all contracted.

Being able to complete these levels independently from the aid of the United States is enough to verify the rapid growth of South Korean film technology.

However, the gap of "Walk with God" is still far away from opening up the Korean film industry system.

There have been comments that this is the Korean version of "Lord of the Rings" and will be the Marvel Universe of South Korea. This is too ridiculous.

Not all blockbusters can be called the Lord of the Rings, not all series can be called Marvel.

Hollywood blockbusters and a complete industrial system are not built overnight.

Although the technology of "Walk with God" is leading in Asia, it is difficult to be conspicuous in the filming of Europe and the United States.

The story is also important. Although the story of Hollywood is simple, it crosses national borders.

Judging from these two films, it still has not broken through the shackles of the mainland. It still directly fills the Korean-style sensation into the big special effects, and the special effects are upgraded, but the story fails to match. It is as awkward as a child wearing ready-to-wear, talking about crossing national borders.

However, "Walk with God" has determined that there will be at least four works, which is rare for the South Korean film series, except for "Girls' High School Strange Story" to the sixth, and the rest have stopped at the third.

Moreover, themes such as ghosts and gods can only be broadcast on the web at best, such as "Soul Ferry", and the failure of the release of "The Evil" even blocked the growth of this theme.

We are still on the way to learn about genre films. We have our own blockbusters and even the "Di Renjie" series of local blockbusters, but we have a lot of hot money that is out of proportion to the films made.

The opening of Han Ying has at least given the possibility of film growth and upgrade.

From this point of view, we really have to give others a thumbs up.

Text/Guliguo

View more about Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days reviews

Extended Reading
  • Dewayne 2022-03-20 09:02:53

    Past and present, the grievances that have lasted for thousands of years. Although it is slightly trivial and procrastinating, it is not as sensational as the first, but it does not have the sense of division in the first, and the overall is more solid. There is no problem in the final unity of the two lines.

  • Gardner 2022-03-18 09:01:08

    Personally, I think it’s better than the first one. After all, Korean sensationalism has never been my dish. The story of the first part is continued, and the script is divided into three lines, but if you read the first part of the comics, you will not find it difficult to understand. Thousands of years ago, the current results were created. The three messengers’ previous scenes were completely praised (and also my favorite part). This movie is more restrained, with many laughs and upgraded special effects, which can be said to show the Korean Film Industry. On the mature side, the middle part is slightly lengthy. It is a pity that I still haven’t seen a more detailed description of the seven hells, but the most emotional thing is that Han Ying can finally say that after so many years, he can finally have his own. "Fu Lian" (a truly proud one). Needless to say, the third and fourth parts are coming soon!