"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" broke box-office records over the weekend. The relationship between Bumblebee, above, and Sam (Shia LaBeouf) helps explain the franchise's popularity in Korea, especially among men in their 30s and 40s. Provided by the distributor.
Hollywood's "Transformers" franchise continued its dominance in Korea, its largest foreign market, with "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" smashing domestic box-office records over the weekend.
The Michael Bay-directed flick, the third installment in the franchise, saw the nation's biggest-ever opening, ranking in 32.9 billion won ($30.9 million) as of yesterday morning since its June 29 release - the movie's best showing outside the United States.
But in the battle between Autobots and Decepticons, it is not just tweens and teens who have catapulted the franchise to atmospheric heights here, but Korean men in their 30s and 40s reliving their childhoods.
"Japan and Korea are two of the few countries where children do not play with superheroes like Spiderman and Superman but rather play with transforming robots", psychologist Shin Young-sup of Daegu Cyber University said. "Transformers appeals to Korean men who have childhood memories of robots".
For many Korean men who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, robots hold a special place in their collective psyche: two of the most popular children's shows then were the Japanese animated series "Mazinger Z" and "Gundam", which were about robots that could transform themselves.
In particular, the relationship between Sam (played by Shia LaBeouf) and Bumblebee, a yellow Transformer, resonates with those who grew up with the Japanese cartoons.
"Interactions between the protagonist and the robots are a familiar subject or story line in Japanese cartoons", psychiatrist Ha Ji-hyun of Konkuk University said.
Nostalgia of playing with toy robots coupled with automobiles - another popular interests among men - is what attracted so many to the theaters, said Gwang-hee Choi, a movie critic.
The result is Korea becoming a cash cow for the Hollywood franchise, as well as its biggest market overseas.
Both the first and second Transformers installments drew about seven million viewers each, the highest among foreign films except for "Avatar".
The franchise's first installment in 2007 made 55 billion won in Korea, the most after the United States. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", the 2009 sequel, brought in 46.5 billion won from the box office, trailing only the United States and Britain.
Even Japan, which produced the 1970s and 1980s animated cartoons about robots, trailed behind Korea. The first Transformers made roughly $51 million in Korea versus $34 million in Japan, while the second installment ranked in $43 million in Korean and just $22 million next door.
The success of the latest Transformers in Korea could also be attributed to the high number of screens showing the flick nationwide. CJ E&M, the movie's local distributor, opened the third installment on more than a thousand screens.
Movie critic Kim Hyung-seok also believes the movies' non-America-centric plot has helped propel the franchise to record heights.
"Audiences can full enjoy Transformers without any cultural background or understanding", Kim said.
Kim said the "X-Men" franchise, which has not been as successful in Korea, offered a counterexample.
The movie, based on a well-known American comic series, created cultural differences and psychological barriers for Korean audiences, Kim said.
Unlike the X-Men movies, Kim said the plots in Transformers films tend not to assume cultural hegemony, a point of frequent criticism of many Hollywood blockbusters.
By Ki Sun-min
Source: joongangdaily.joins.c.... (English Korean)
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