By Mark Schilling
Windstruck, director Kwak Jae-young's follow-up to his hit romantic comedy My Sassy Girl, has set a new box office record for a Korean film in Japan. Released by Warner Japan on 300 screens on December 11, the film recorded Y1.8 billion ($17.65 million) on 1.37 million admissions as of January 16.
Reuniting Jun Ji-hyun and Jang Hyuk, the stars of My Sassy Girl, the film is a bittersweet love story about a policewoman (Jun) who falls in love with a high school teacher (Jang) she mistakenly arrests for purse-snatching.
The 2001 My Sassy Girl was a hit in Japan, but its box office take did not approach that of the previous record holder, the political thriller Shiri, which passed the Y1.8 billion mark in 2000.
Windstruck has attracted the previous film's fans, including the millions who rented it on video or DVD. But the core audience, says Warner publicity rep Ryo Kosugi, has been "dating couples in their teens and twenties" who saw it on their winter break from school. "It's very similar to the audience for Crying Out Love In the Center of the World," adds Kosugi. The biggest Japanese hit of 2004, Isao Yukisada's weeper about a tragic teenage love affair grossed more than $80 million, while generating a boom for so-called "pure love" (junai) dramas, including Windstruck.
The film, commented Kosugi, has also benefited from the so-called "hanryu" boom -- the craze among middle-aged Japanese women for all things Korean, launched by the megahit TV drama Winter Sonata and its star, BaeYong Jun. "Windstruck is attracting a wide demographic, from teenagers to women in their thirties and forties," he added. Men are also coming in large numbers, accompanying their wives and girlfriends.
Warner, not surprisingly, has plans to release more Korean films, as well as those from China and elsewhere in Asia. "We're not just in the business of distributing Hollywood films any more," commented Kosugi.
