"Blades of Blood" sells to 9 countries at Cannes film market

Published on 2010/05/18 | Source

Official poster for film "Blades of Blood" [Cinus]

Korean film "Blades of Blood" has been sold to nine countries including the U.K., Thailand, Iran and Indonesia at an ongoing film market in France.

According to a press release by the film's marketing firm Ziness, the action flick received much praise and sold for "an unprecedented price" at the Cannes Film Market, where movie industry officials buy and sell their movies during the annual Cannes Film Festival.

M Line, which handles overseas sales for "Blades of Blood", had announced last week that four European countries including Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg had bought the film even before the market opened.

After seeing the film at the screening last Thursday morning, U.K. movie distribution firm Metrodome, who had previously bought Korean hit film "The Chaser", as well as Thailand's J-Bics, Iran's IRIB and Indonesia's Camila Internusa requested to buy the film.

"Asian traditional dramas are usually not very popular in Europe", one French buyer was quoted as saying. "But I think 'Blades of Blood' will be a huge hit in the European market because it has many appealing characters that viewers can relate to regardless of nationality and time".

An executive at German firm Splendid also expressed his satisfaction for the pic, saying "With the never-ending, high-quality action scenes throughout the film, I don't think it will let down Asian movie fans in Germany. I am happy to have put in an advance sales order".

"Blades of Blood", directed by Lee Joon-ik of 2005 hit film "The King and the Clown", opened in Korea on April 28 and has attracted over 1.2 million viewers to date.