투사부일체 (My Boss, My Student) Opens Big

The 'Jung Trio' strikes again? Seems like it, as the comedy 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Student) had a record-breaking opening day at the Korean box office.

Starring Jung Joon-Ho, Jung Woong-In, Jung Woon-Taek (the 'Jung Trio) and Kim Sang-Joong, the film is a sequel of 2001's 두사부일체 (My Boss, My Student), which went on to sell over 3.5 Million tickets. Switching gears and starring Jung Joon-Ho as a student-teacher, the comedy directed by Kim Dong-Won was fighting neck to neck with Lee Joon-Ik's 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) in pre-order sales, but I think few people (myself included) expected this kind of success. Released over 421 screens (92 in Seoul), the film sold 306,963 tickets on its first day of release, with over 80,000 tickets in Seoul alone. That would be a pretty good opening WEEKEND for a big film, but the comedy managed to sell that much in one day.

This beats the previous opening day record, set by Kang Woo-Suk's 실미도 (Silmido), with 301,000 tickets nationwide. Distributors expect the film to sell around 1.8 Million tickets this weekend, which would make 'My Boss, My Student' the first big Korean hit of 2006. In other news, 'The King and The Clown' already passed the 5 Million, and is steadily flying towards the 6 Million. People are already making comparisons with 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi)'s run and its 11+ Million tickets, which sounds a little premature. But one thing's certain, 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) might not end up as the No. 1 film of 2005 after all.

[Source: Yahoo Korea]