Movies with multiple main actors hottest box office trend

Song Kang-ho in a scene from “The Age of Shadows” / Courtesy of Warners Bros.

By Park Jae-hyuk

Spy thriller “The Age of Shadows” swept the box office during the Chuseok long weekend last week, attracting over 5 million viewers. The movie drew more than 860,000 viewers a day, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) said.

The film created plenty of interest even before its release because of its star-studded cast.

Seasoned actor Song Kang-ho, whose previous film “The Attorney” attracted over 10 million viewers, co-stars with other popular actors Gong Yoo and Lee Byung-hun in the movie. Gong and Lee’s films “Train to Busan” and “Masquerade,” respectively, both attracted over 10 million viewers.

“The Age of Shadows” illustrates one of the hottest trends in the Korean film industry where movies have multiple main characters. “Asura: The City of Madness,” which will be released on Sept. 28, stars some of Korea’s most celebrated male actors, such as Jung Woo-sung, Hwang Jung-min and Kwak Do-won.

“Master,” which will be released in December, also features some of the hottest stars, including Lee Byung-hun, Kang Dong-won and Kim Woo-bin.

Multiple main character casting became a box office trend after director Choi Dong-hoon’s caper movie “The Thieves,” released in 2012, was a big hit.

The film had a slew of stars, including Kim Yoon-seok, Lee Jung-jae, Kim Hye-soo, Jun Ji-hyun and Kim Soo-hyun. It ranks fifth in Korea’s box office records, drawing more than 12 million viewers.

After “Assassination” came “Veteran,” which also drew over 10 million viewers last year.

Industry watchers say that theatergoers pay more attention to the movie and give more positive reviews if it features more than one famous actor. Actors are also relieved of some burden because they do not have to lead throughout the entire movie.

In Hollywood, there are plenty of movies with multiple main characters for those reasons.

The caper film “Ocean’s Eleven” and the superhero movie series “The Avengers” are examples of such successes in Hollywood. Recently released, “The Magnificent Seven” is another because it has seven main characters.