K-netizens Upset at Song Joong Ki and Lee Sung Min After Their Comments on the State of K-movies at the Media Event for Movie Bogota
It’s not a week in K-ent if there isn’t a scandal or upset feeling somewhere. But with K-pop, variety, movies, and dramas it doesn’t always hit a segment that I follow but this week it’s all over the movie promos for thriller arthouse flick Bogota: City of the Lost. The movie, starring Song Joong Ki and Lee Hee Joon, has been a flop since its premiere two weeks ago, and honestly I never saw this as a box office draw and figured the leads were doing it for awards cred and expanding their acting oeuvre. This week the cast along with special guest Lee Sung Min held a media event where the stars candidly answered questions about the box office. Song Joong Ki teared up when discussing how the parking lot was empty along with the theater and it really made him feel like wanting to die but he remains grateful the movie is getting a release in theaters and wants to do his best. His sunbae and good friend Lee Sung Min chimed in at the state of the box office during these turbulent and difficult times. K-netizens got offended with both believing that the movie is bad or not appealing hence the low box office and not something the viewers should be made to feel bad about.


Maybe it just seems too depressing for people to watch in Korea. Maybe it will do well internationally? But it is concerning to say he felt like dying over his movie. Failure happens once in awhile and I hope this does not discourage his life to that extent.
No doubt the film industry is struggling but Song Joong Ki shouldn’t be blaming the industry for his film flopping. It was easy to predict this film was going to fail. It’s been sitting on the shelf for four years, story sounds boring (Who was asking for a big budget fictional story about Korean immigrants smugglimg in Colombia? Who was the target audience supposed to be?) trailer was boring, SJK looked miscast, reviews were terrible.
He’s been trying desperately to get a film career going over the past few years but he keeps selecting dud film projects.
I do think the current turmoil state in the country does have some impact on people’s mood to entertain themselves.
Yes, and if they do – it will something UPlifting light they will probably be wanting. Not struggles of immigrants, as they are ‘struggling’ themselves.
This comment is so true. Why torture ourselves with a reminder how tough life is all about? LOL
He’s been trying desperately to get a film career going over the past few years but he keeps selecting dud projects which nobody wants to watch.
No doubt the film industry is struggling but Song Joong Ki shouldn’t be blaming the industry for this film flopping. It was easy to predict this film was going to fail. It’s been sitting on the shelf for four years, story sounds boring (Who was asking for a big budget fictional story about Korean immigrants smuggling in Colombia? Who was the target audience supposed to be?) trailer was boring, SJK looked miscast, reviews were terrible.
Precisely. I’m not sure what he’s trying to achieve with his movie career. Attempting different genres without making any effortto pick quality scripts or productions does not make a successful film career. It’s like he just takes anything that is offered to him or he isn’t offered anything better and for the sake of doing a movie, he accepts whatever. This new movie has been on limbo for years. It’s surprising that he cried over the failure like he thought it would be a blockbuster? That’s really out of touch.
They are not wrong. The Korean film industry is in a bad state There’ve been countless articles about it in the last few years. Box office hits like Exhuma are the exception and not the norm. Look at Harbin, it’s topped box office reservations for weeks, and yet is still struggling to break even.
It speaks volumes when movie giants like Song Kangho and Choi Minsik shifted to doing tv shows, and all these movie stars are “lowering themselves” to go on variety shows to promote.
SJK and LSM might be ruffling public feathers with this, but their industry peers are going to be in agreement.
I don’t think this particularly a Korean problem. The same case can be seen in theatres across the world. The industry never recovered from the Pandemic as most people prefer to watch films from the comfort of their homes. South Korea has a small population which is probably why the gap can be seen more clearly in their industry but it’s not an audience problem. BarbenHimer pulled in huge numbers across the world but big blockbuster movies that collectively catch the public interest are fewer and further in between. This is just the new normal nothing to fret over. The industry needs to adapt to changing standards. Just like how Kdrama doesn’t pull in high ratings anymore on TV but doesn’t mean the actors are cribbing about poor ratings at every conference. Movie stars need to meet that reality as well and SJK is more a drama star than a movie star anyway so I don’t get why he’s upset. His dramas still have high ratings and sell well internationally. Isn’t that enough?
Well of course he’s upset when this is his own project and industry. Entertainment people are passionate about cinema – it’s an art form, and many of them have been wringing hands over its struggles and decay, whether it’s folks from Korean cinema or Hollywood. The industry’s struggles also affects so many people’s jobs en masse, everyone from producers to lighting assistants to cameramen.
It’s quite different in X/Twitter. (Or maybe that’s just the algorithm of posts sent my way, dunno~) Many posts I came across were saying that this is SJK’s “karma” since Song Hyegyo’s nuns movie is doing good in the box office compared to him. And how SJK is always playing the victim and that this movie flop is payback for how he treated her during their divorce and his behaviour thereafter ~
I mean the entertainment industry is banked on trends anyway so changes are bound to happen.. (so does everywhere else tho) if they don’t adapt, they’re gonna struggle.. but they are at the top with money, what more the lesser ones?
TBD on whether Song Hye Kyo’s movie actually even breaks even. Topping box office reservations =/= makes money – just look at Harbin.
Isn’t nun movie sequel to the priest? That movie was a box office hit so, obviously people would go for a sequel.
His victim complex is something Karma’s a bitch
Couldnt agree more
This whole situation may have gotten bigger than it probably should have been tbh. On one hand, I’m with the knetz that it’s lame to guilt trip viewers to watch his low quality movie. He’s not the only one with flops and the solution to it is to choose better scripts instead of fruitlessly appealing to viewers. Everyone works hard for their money and will only spend it on things they feel is worth it. In the video, it looked more like a figure of speech when he said he “felt like dying” because of a movie’s failure. Hopefully that is the case because no one is expected to always succeed and it’s very serious if he truly thinks that way.
On the other hand, the reporters have definitely fuelled the fire by writing some damning articles against the actors instead of giving their side proper context. Appearance fees are always a testy topic and it was again brought up as a solution. The number of comments on this topic is huge and 99% is anger/ridicule towards SJK. LSM was hardly mentioned at all.
He is not wrong. They are struggling against rising cost of producing vs los returns. Movies making huge profit is rare now. Bogota is boring but that doesn’t make his statement wrong.
But they are not wrong.
It’s not new their movie industry is struggling. And in the long term, the quality and diversity will decrease.
Does it that bad ? I haven’t watch it yet. Usually, A Korean movie won’t enter my country if in Korea is not a big hiteven if there is so many superstar in a movie. I guess I should wait till available in streaming site then. That’s okay Joong Ki. Failure is apart of life. . I guess you get used to always star in a success project, once it’s a failure, he can’t get used to it.
Uhh, SJK has never had a successful movie career despite putting focus on it in the past years. Space sweepers, hopeless, Loh Ki wan are all flops and Bogata now. You’re confusing his drama career for his movie one.
Movies are NOT it anymore, especially with streaming. Even for American entertainment, it’s bad. The films getting awards (which a normal person like me doesn’t even take seriously) are pretentious films with high shock value. There is hardly any meaningful storytelling anymore–there are definitely diamonds hidden somewhere–but the state of entertainment is actually really depressing these days.
You win some, you lose some. Better luck next time, just got to keep working on it, I say this for all celebrities.
The fact that SJK is still being punished for a divorce that happened years ago, without anyone being clear who the guilty party was says much about the mental health of the bulk of Knetz. A weak, cowardly, unforgiving bunch of people. Wonder how long they’ll keep this this terrible culture of always blaming the men up!
If they will not support him, International fans will though. Who in this world is perfect? I wonder how he’s expected to keep his emotions bottled up and not express his feelings on a project he spent money and efforts on.
If someone has been in a relationship 3 or 4times and gets left behind every single time, isn’t it just normal to ask what might be wrong with them? Than to focus on someone who now has a successful marriage and family? What’s the obsession with SHK and SJK divorce? Is she an angel from heaven???
IMHO, she was the problem!