[Herald Review] ‘Avengers’ sets Korean box office records

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” is setting box office records worldwide, and Korea is no exception to seeing the Disney Marvel superhero action movie hitting it big.

The second Avengers film hit local theaters last Thursday, showing at over 44 percent of multiplex screens nationwide.

It sold over 3 million tickets, or 21.2 billion won ($19.7 million), as of Sunday morning, according to the Korean Film Council.

The movie, about a band of Earth’s mightiest heroes including Iron Man and Thor from Marvel’s comic-book universe fighting against a rogue robot eyeing world destruction, broke the record in the shortest time.

Although the movie’s reviews have largely been positive thanks to its well-crafted action sequences, some critics and audiences at home have expressed disappointment especially with the movie’s scenes involving Seoul.

Notable car chase and battle scenes including ones with characters Captain America and Black Widow against Ultron’s foes in Seoul had a considerable amount of screen time.

But it is hard to say that the capital city made its mark as a tourist destination, which was the Korea Tourism Organization’s original intention, critics said.

The Korea Film Council helped sponsor the shoot in Seoul last year through an incentive scheme, enabling filmmakers to receive a 30 percent rebate on production costs should they shoot locally for more than 10 days with a budget of over 2 billion won.

Marvel received rebates worth almost 4 billion won, which came from the taxpayer-funded Tourism Promotion and Development Fund.

“Avengers 2: Age of Ultron” is expected to continue to set box office records with no competition as no big action flicks are slated to hit theaters in the coming weeks.

“Furious 7” starring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, which opened nearly a month ago, is the only action film that is competing with the Marvel movie in Korea.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)