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[HanCinema's News] Mediocre Box Office Returns for "Alienoid" Paint Bleak Picture for Experimental South Korean Blockbusters

This past July 20th saw the release of the long-anticipated science fiction fantasy film "Alienoid" in South Korean theaters. Its director Choi Dong-hoon was behind such major hits as "The Thieves" in 2012 and "The Assassination" in 2015 with both films easily going beyond the ten million viewer mark. "Alienoid" has been a disappointment in comparison. Despite casting stars of similar stature, "Alienoid" has only earned 1,288,794 admissions in its first eleven days according to the Korean Film Council.

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Far from competing with other major films like "Hansan: Rising Dragon" which has already exceeded this total with 1,614,626 admissions in just four days, "Alienoid" is now likely to finish behind even the "Decision to Leave" which wasn't even promoted as a blockbuster. The Cannes-plaudited melodrama has earned 1,644,791 admissions since its release on June 29th. "Alienoid" had hopes for a sequel, with the subtitle part one being listed in the original Korean title.

An explanation for how "Alienoid" has hit such a shortfall is inherently speculative. But going by social media responses, it seems likely that the big issue for "Alienoid" was simply that the story was too complicated for its own good. "Alienoid" takes place in two distinct time periods, the present day and thirteenth century Goryeo. Save for some shared characters, the two plots have little in common, and neither has a satisfying resolution.

There's also a great deal of presumption in the worldbuilding, assuming that the viewer will simply wait until the next movie comes out to fill in the missing gaps. While many South Korean films are more inclined to the franchise styled creative direction, these movies still had largely self-contained stories. While the similarly titled "The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion" may have worn its franchise hopes openly, the supernatural action film was still entirely coherent as a stand-alone title.

"The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion" also had modest expectations, and was a success with only three million admissions. "Alienoid" with its Taoist wizards of alien origin was a much more experimental genre mishmash than any other recent hit at the South Korean box office. The failure of the film will likely have a chilling effect on similarly innovative ideas in the future, when a film like "The Roundup" can single-handedly lead a box office resurgence off an explicit promise of more of the same.

Written by William Schwartz

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