Korea’s Lotte lines up slate of period movies: FilMart

SEOUL — Four period titles head the sales slate of Lotte Entertainment, South Korea’s second largest vertically integrated film conglomerate, going in to next week’s Hong Kong FilMart.

Nostalgic trips down memory lane were big hits in Korea last year, with Ode to My Father, Roaring Currents and Lotte’s The Pirates all doing huge box office business.

Seoul during the Japanese imperial period is the setting for The Silenced, a thriller set in a mysterious sanatorium. Directed by Lee Hae-young (Like a Virgin), the picture stars Park Bo-young (A Werewolf Boy) and Uhm Ji-won (Hope). It is set for release in Korea in June.

The reign of tyrannical king Yeonsan-gun is the backdrop for erotic political drama The Treacherous. The film is directed by Min Kyu-dong (All About My Wife) and stars Ju Ji-hoon, who previously worked with the director on Antique. Lotte has all rights except Europe, whose territories are handled by Finecut.

Lee Byung-hun (Terminator: Genisys), Cannes-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon (Way Back Home) and Kim Go-eun (Eun-gyo) star in The Memories of the Sword, a period action drama with a US$10 million (S$13.9 million) budget. Direction, under Park Heung-sik (My Mother the Mermaid), began in February 2014.

The Long Way Home, a big-budget film set during the Korean War in 1953, is the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Chun Sung-il (The Pirates). The picture stars veteran actor Sol Kyung-gu (Cold Eyes) and rising star Yeo Jin-goo (Hwayi: A Monster Boy).

Lotte skipped the European Film market in Berlin, and will instead open up sales on the new titles at FilMart.

Among its completed titles are 2014 Locarno-winning indie A Fresh Start, which will be released in Korea this year, and 2015 Berlinale’s Forum title End of Winter, which will also screen at this month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival. VARIETY.COM/REUTERS