The Korean movie “Secretly and Greatly” has swept the box office in recent weeks, setting numerous records including largest opening-weekend audience, highest number of viewers in a single day, and the shortest amount of time to a million viewers. According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), “Secretly and Greatly” has drawn one million viewers in its first 36 hours following its release on June 5 and two million in its first 72 hours. As of June 16, it has surpassed the five million mark.
Released on June 5, “Secretly and Greatly” has amassed over five million viewers within twelve days.
The film is a mix of light-hearted comedy with action thriller elements, revolving around three highly trained North Korean agents who were sent to South Korea with an ambitious mission: unification. The elite agents, who have been selected among 20,000 competitors for the roles, however, disguised themselves as an idiot, a wannabe rock star, and a high school student. Over the years while awaiting orders from Pyongyang, they become used to the way of life as they mingle with people of lower class. Finally, a secret and grand mission is delivered, but it turns out to be something that no one can accept.
The phenomenal success of the film has been partly attributed to presence of Kim Soo-hyeon-I, one of Korea’s celebrity icons.
The movie’s popularity has been mostly attributed to the star power of three young heartthrob movie stars Kim Soo-hyeon-I, Park Ki-woong, and Lee Hyun-woo. According to ticketing site YES24 and Maxmovie, the number of female viewers of “Secretly and Greatly” during its opening week was more than twice that of other new releases in the same week. The survey also explained that the ticket reservations made by fathers on behalf of their daughters accounted for as high as 15 percent.
Another factor that helped “Secretly and Greatly” gain attention is that the movie was based on the popular Internet comic “Covertness”. The 2010 webcomic series published by webtoonist Hun has attracted over 40 million page hits online.
Webcomics have spread fast among the younger generation, taking advantage of the widespread use of smartphones as well as limitless space on the web.
In recent years, webcomic-based movies have breathed renewed energy into the film industry since webtoonist Kang Pool‘s first debut on film with “A.P.T” in 2006. Movie critics believe that the production of cartoon-based movies guarantees success to some extent due to its webcomic fans.
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