Another War Film for Period Hitmaker
KIM Han-min, the man behind last year’s history-making hit
Roaring Currents, which sailed to the top of the all time Korean box office chart when a staggering 17.61 million viewers (equal to one in three residents in the country) went to see it, is set to return with another military themed period piece about the Bongoh Town Battle of 1920.
Already deep into pre-production, the film will detail a little known event that took place in Colonial Era Manchuria. The Bongoh Town Battle, an important milestone of the Korean Independence Movement, featured 1300 Korean guerrilla fighters who went up against a battalion of 500 Japanese soldiers.
Director KIM previously made
Paradise Murdered (2007) and
Handphone (2009) before striking box office gold with his period action film
War of the Arrows (2011).
Roaring Currents earned him further success, not to mention awards such as Best Director from the Blue Dragon Film Awards. Beyond
Bongoh Town Battle, KIM is also hoping to film two follow-ups to
Roaring Currents for a planned Admiral YI Sun-shin trilogy.
With a working title of Bongoh Town Battle, KIM’s new project has almost completed its screenplay and talent agencies are already being contacted for its upcoming casting stage. The film is expected to go before cameras in the second half of the year.