Director Yeon Sang-ho of the film "Gunchae" shared his thoughts on drawing audiences as quickly as The King's Warden, the biggest box-office hit of this year's first half.
On the morning of the 26th, director Yeon Sang-ho conducted an interview at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At the event, he spoke with domestic reporters about his newly released film "Gunchae."
"Gunchae" is a film about isolated survivors inside a building sealed off by an unidentified infection who fight infected people that evolve in unpredictable ways. As Yeon Sang-ho's third zombie film following Train to Busan and Peninsula, it opened on the 21st and is meeting audiences.
Especially, director Yeon Sang-ho visited Cannes after his film was invited to the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival's midnight screening. It was his fourth time at Cannes following Train to Busan, Peninsula and the Netflix original series Hellbound.
"I rested well and yesterday I watched a movie in 4DX at the theater with my daughter. It was fun," he said, describing the weekend movie-theater atmosphere with his daughter, a fifth grader in elementary school. He added with a laugh, "When we came out, the theater was very noisy. It felt excited. I saw the reactions I wanted to see in the theater. One or two people recognized me while they were eating, so I took photos for them."
The audience reactions that Yeon Sang-ho also felt are showing up quickly in box-office scores. Gunchae surpassed 1 million viewers four days after its release. That is a faster pace than The King's Warden, which drew about 16 million viewers in the first half of this year. Did Yeon Sang-ho expect such a response?
Yeon Sang-ho said, "I showed Face last year, but it was a small film, and it's been a while since I made a big film. I still don't know. I'm grateful that audiences are showing a lot of interest early on."
He continued, "The net production cost of 'Gunchae' is 17 billion won. Also, overseas sales were considerable. Because it's a zombie film, I understand the overseas sales amount is substantial. So I understand the break-even point is a little under 3 million viewers. Surpassing the break-even point is the goal. If that happens, I think we'll be relieved," he confessed.
He also added cautiously, "Because it's been a long time since I made such a big film, I can't predict it. The moviegoing culture seems to have changed a lot. Once we reach break-even, I think we can watch more comfortably."
(Continued in interview ②)<
[Photo] Provided by SHOWBOX.
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