SOUTH KOREA: FILM DIRECTOR CLAIMS HIS FILM "YONGGARY" WILL BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN "GODZILLA"

Record ID: 388431

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: FILM DIRECTOR CLAIMS HIS FILM "YONGGARY" WILL BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN "GODZILLA"
  • Date: 24th April 1999
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) DIRECTOR SHIM SAYING: "All the movie-goers (in any country) liked the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Both adults and children like monsters such as Godzilla. So I decided to make a film about Yonggary." STUDIO SET SHOOT - DIRECTOR SUPERVISES MINIATURE HELICOPTER AND SET BEING BLOWN UP. "YONGGARY" POSTER SHOT OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS ARTIST WORKING ON VISUAL OF YONGGARY MODELS OF YONGGARY IN STUDIO WORKSHOP
  • Embargoed: 9th May 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Reuters ID: LVA68N8JCKV0FPSW0USLOWRE8609
  • Story Text: Godzilla may not have been the monster hit its US producers were hoping for - failing to take a bite-size chunk at the box-office.But now a South Korean movie director is hoping his take on the monster yarn, 'Yonggary' - made for a fraction of Godzilla's cost - will enjoy better luck with the cinema-going public - proving that perhaps size doesn't matter at all.
    A South Korean film director claims his new film, "Yonggary", will be more successful than "Godzilla", even though it was made for a fraction of the Hollywood blockbuster's cost.
    The new monster movie first received attention last year when the two-minute-long preview of 'Yonggary' kicked up a storm at the Cannes film festival clinching $3 million in export deals.
    'Yonggary's' producer and director, 41-year old Shim Hyung Rae is confident his epic will beat "Godzilla" in the monster stakes.
    "The production cost of Godzilla was $170 million while that of "Yonggary" was much less at $10 million.However, the output quality of "Yonggary" is two steps above that of Godzilla," Shim says.
    Shim, Chief Executive of his own production company Zeronine Entertainment, believes special effect movies can be successful exports because everybody likes monster movies.
    "All movie fanatics across the world liked the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.Both adults and children like monsters.That's why I decided to make 'Yonggary.'"
    About 10 million U.S.dollars has been invested into the 'Yonggary' project.Western actors were hired including Harrison Young, playing the prominent paleontologist, who starred in the Oscar winning movie, 'Saving Private Ryan.' Shim says making monster movies requires hi-tech equipment for good quality screen images.Excellent skills are also needed for computer-graphic designs and for making miniatures.
    "We have very talented designers and architects.Our film equipment is as good as Hollywood, or even better," he says.
    Shim now plans to get his claws into building a Sci-fi theme park in Suwon, south of Seoul.
    "My goal is to build a Sci-fi theme park which has a Sci-fi filming studio.Then I can produce and export Science fiction movies and make post-production works for foreign movies.Software from the movies can be used as part of the park," he said.
    Koreans laughed at Shim a decade ago when he was a popular slapstick comedian.
    They laughed at him six years ago when he launched a film company to produce special effects-driven movies for the world market.
    They're not laughing at him anymore.
    Shim has already become a celebrity in Asia as well as in his own native country - and featured in Asiaweek magazine's top twenty most-influential Asians.
    'Yonggary' will be introduced to Korean movie-goers in August and across the world in December of this year.
    Shim plans to pre-sell 'Yonggary' to film distributors at this year's Cannes Film Festival, confident 'Yonggary' will amaze viewers across the world, quoting a phrase from his movie poster, "Yonggary -- it's not what you expect.
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