THE KOREAN film “One Step” starring Sandara Park bombed and laid a big fat egg at the local box office. It proves that Sandara doesn’t really have that big of a loyal following here even if she’s already very much familiar to local audiences because of the movies and TV shows she did with ABS-CBN before. So those who are suggesting that her love team with Hero Angeles be revived, just dream on. They’re both things of the past and there’s no more Part 2 for their tandem after their lost opportunities.
There’s an impression that Korean stars have a big following here in Manila. Maybe, on TV, yes, but on the big screen, we beg to disagree as no Korean film has really become a blockbuster except for the zombie thriller that is “Train to Busan” starring Gong Yoo.
But Gong Yoo’s other big movie, “The Age of Shadows”, was hardly noticed when shown here, even if it was very well reviewed. The movies of another very popular Korean actor, Lee Min Ho, like “Gangnam Blues” and “Bounty Hunters” didn’t really make that big a dent at the tills when they were released here, dubbed in Tagalog at that.Other Korean movies that were big hits in Korea but didn’t do well locally are “Ode to My Father” (which is a well made, great drama about Korea’s modern history from the Hungnam evacuation during the Korean War until their involvement in Vietnam War), “Miracle in Cell No. 7” (a tearjerker about a mentally challenged man wrongfully accused of murder), and “Roaring Currents” (a war film which is the most watched movie in Korea.) If they want their movies to be hits here, then they should promote it more extensively.
