| A scene from the film “Extreme Job” / Courtesy of CJ Entertainment |
By Park Jin-hai
Director Lee Byeong-heon's new comedy film has taken over the local box office. The low budget film continues to surprise the film market, renewing daily ticket sales.
Lee said he tried not to feel pressure thinking about reviews and “just made it, thinking it is an entertainment show.” It has topped the box office for nine straight days since its Jan. 23 release.
The film, starring Ryu Seung-young and Lee Ha-nee, tells the story of a team of vice detectives who go undercover inside a fried chicken eatery to crack down on an organized crime ring.
But things take an unexpected turn when the detectives' chicken shop earns sudden fame as the hottest eatery in town.
It sold over 5 million as of Friday. Previously, it broke the daily admission record with the sales of 1 million tickets on the opening weekend, surpassing that of box office-hit “Along With The Gods” with some 916,000, set Jan. 1 2018.
It only took eight days for the film to reach the 4 million admissions mark, faster than the pace of previous films “Veteran” (2015) in nine days, and “The Attorney” (2013), 11 days, all of which reached over 10 million admissions, the traditional milestone for box office success in Korea.
If its current pace continues, the film is expected to hit the 10 million admissions mark during the Lunar New Year holiday which begins this weekend. Its reservation rate for the upcoming holiday season as of Friday is over 53 percent.
Industry insiders say its success is almost equivalent to a Hollywood blockbuster, since the 6.5 billion won budget film is raking in profits, way beyond the break-even point of 2.3 million ticket sales.
Viewers gave 97 percent on cinema chain CGV's Golden Egg index and left such reviews as “it was so funny that I almost cried as I laughed so hard all during watching it,” and “the cast makes perfect comic harmony.”
Critics gave high scores to its detailed and carefully crafted humor and its fast pacing. Kang Yoo-jung said, “The director is the master of creating wit, in dealing with various themes and subjects. Extreme Job has lavish puns, plot twists and a dynamic pace of lines between characters.”
Director Lee already proved his comedy chops with youth comedy “Twenty” (2015) and sexual comedy "What a Man Wants" (2018).
“In the past few years, Korean cinemas tended to focus on dealing with big social issues in dark crime and truth unveiling films. In doing so, they produced scenarios lacking details. But like Mal-Mo-E, audiences now have discerning eyes to prefer the works of directors who might be lesser known but have their own unique ways to weave stories.”
Another critic Yoon Sung-eun says its fast-paced humor meets the needs of younger generations. “The film embedded humor everywhere, so that viewers can crack laughs every minute or two. It suits to the younger generations who are used to watching short video clips on YouTube, created to lead audiences to instant laughs. The traditional comedy TV shows like Gag Concert have been on the wane since they didn't catch up with this trend, while this film can be said to be the opposite case,” she said.