Why can't Korea make a decent space movie?

"Project Hail Mary," the $250 million Amazon MGM space adventure starring Ryan Gosling, isn't exactly tearing up the Korean box office, but it's definitely holding its own. As of Thursday, the film has pulled in 2.1 million admissions since its March 18 release, and word of mouth is keeping it humming along. A 4.0 out of 5 on Watchapedia, Korea's Rotten Tomatoes equivalent, is a rare score for a commercial film here, and social media chatter has been warm across the board. The film may well be o

The $7.4m trainwreck that became Korean cinema's most legendary disaster

Making a film is hard, making a good film harder still. But to craft something so spectacularly awful that it ascends to legendary status takes a special kind of genius. This series digs up the gems of Korean cinema remembered for their extraordinary badness. This is the second installment. Picture this: A delivery guy wanders into an office, only to find something amiss. The secretary insists she didn't place an order. An altercation ensues — he demands payment, she tells him to get lost — and

'Clementine,' Korean cinema's oft-memed cult classic

Making a film is hard, making a good film harder still. But to craft something so spectacularly awful that it ascends to legendary status takes a special kind of genius. This series digs up the gems of Korean cinema remembered for their extraordinary badness. This is the first installment. A search for the 2004 film "Clementine" on Naver Movie, Korea's go-to platform for film ratings, reveals something peculiar: a wall of unanimous, rapturous praise rarely seen even for timeless masterpieces. "