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Blockbuster 'The King and the Clown' Ends Its Run on Screens Tuesday

By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter

Korea's most viewed film "The King and the Clown" will be taken off cinema screens on its 112th day of viewing. A historical film set in the Choson Kingdom that deals with freedom and love of court jesters rewrote Korean cinema history by attracting more than 12 million viewers.

The last screening of the film will be held at Primus Cinema in Shilim-dong, Seoul at 8 p.m., April 18th, with an audience of invited members from the movie's Internet fan club.

The movie's unprecedented success was totally unexpected as it was a low-budget film with no star actors. However, since it premiered on Dec. 29th last year, the movie, despite no particular promotional activities, drew enormous popularity from a creative and cohesive scenario, and good performances by actors. The movie sparked debate over homosexuality in Korean society as it implied a gay romance involving King Yonsan and two male court jesters. It also rocketed the new actor Lee Joon-gi, who played effeminate court jester, Kong-gil, to stardom.

On March 5th, the movie broke the previous audience record set by "Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War" that attracted 11.77 million viewers, becoming Korea's most viewed film.

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