Strange things are happening at the South Korean box office. Chief among them is that The Admiral: Roaring Currents, a homegrown movie about a 1597 sea battle, has overtaken 2009 Hollywood hit Avatar's 13.3 million admissions, setting a new box office record.
In the seven weeks since its July 30 release, the South Korean film has notched up 17.5 million admissions (with a gross approaching US$135 million). In a country of 50 million people, that's more than a third of the population.
The Admiral does fit into a broader trend for lavish historical epics. The summer season features three blockbuster films, all set during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897). The other two are Kundo: Age of the Rampant, a Robin Hood-like story of class rebellion starring Ha Jung-woo and Kang Dong-won; and Pirates, which stars Son Ye-jin and is obviously inspired in part by the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
All three films traded on star power and visual spectacle, made possible by computer-generated imagery. They present a visual rendering of centuries past that in detail and colour feel very new.
It seems a boom in historical epics has taken over the South Korean film industry, following the massive commercial success of films such as War of the Arrows (2011), Masquerade (2012) and The Face Reader (2013). Upcoming projects include period fantasies such as martial arts revenge epic Memories of the Sword with Jeon Do-yeon and Lee Byung-hun, and Joseon dynasty fashion drama The Royal Tailor with Han Suk-kyu, Park Shin-hye and Go Soo. Meanwhile, director Kang Woo-suk is revisiting the central conceit of his Two Cops films from the 1990s, but moving the action back to the 1400s for Two Cops Zero: Two Constables.