Director Jang Hang-jun, whose film The King's Warden surpassed 10 million viewers, expressed candid feelings about the box office. He worried that the hit might instead harm other films. His magnanimous mindset once again moved people.
On the 11th, Jang Hang-jun appeared on SBS's News Hunters and opened up about the film's box-office trajectory and his thoughts on the Korean film industry.
That day, when asked whether he had expected to surpass 10 million viewers, he recalled, "Even when we drank and talked among the people who made it, we could not easily bring it up," and "When we passed 5 million viewers, we said, 'let's not show off,' but once the alcohol went in, the number in my heart popped out," he recalled. He added, "I could not dare say 10 million, but I did say something like, 'maybe this isn't a dream.'"
In particular, regarding the film's box office surpassing 12 million, director Jang said, "If only one house prospers on a street, it's not good for the whole street," and emphasized, "Behind our film, works carefully made by fellow directors are waiting. It's more important that my colleagues and I are happy together."
In an interview with MBC Newsdesk he also expressed surprise at the unexpected success. Jang said, "I didn't know it would be loved nationwide like this," and "The opening day results were about half of what I expected, so I thought it would be hard to pass the break-even point, but audiences began to increase from the weekend."
Director Jang also voiced his conviction as a filmmaker about the meaning of a 10-million film. He said, "When you watch the Italian film 'Cinema Paradiso,' people laugh and cry together in the theater and share the same emotions," and "I think the fact that audiences felt those emotions in the theater is the meaning of this film."
He also said, "The Korean film industry works on a structure where theaters make revenue and that is reinvested in films, and if that virtuous cycle collapses, the film industry will struggle," and added, "I hope The King's Warden has at least helped reopen that flow a little." He even said he hopes the film will be quickly forgotten. He went on to say, "I hope various genres of films continue to be made," and "If students do not take on filmmaking, there is no future for film," emphasizing his point. Director Jang Hang-jun's conviction that he hopes the overall health of Korean film improves, beyond box-office records, once again resonated with many.
[Photo] broadcast screen
[OSEN]