S. Korean movie monster gobbles up box office
From Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL—A new movie monster has emerged from the waters of South Korea to cause chaos in the streets of Seoul, set a new box office record and raise concern about pollution at U.S. military bases in the country.
The South Korean movie "The Host" became South Korea's all-time box office champion in early September, selling more than 12.3 million tickets since its release just over a month ago in a country of 48.5 million.
It has a chance of being the first South Korean film to take in more than $100 million and is expected to be a hit across Asia.
"The Host" opens with a negligent U.S. Army mortician in Seoul who orders an underling to pour toxic chemicals down the drain.
The chemicals end up in the capital's main waterway, the Han River, where they create a mutant monster.
The creature rises from the river to go on a killing spree through the streets of Seoul, snatching a little girl and taking her to its lair.
The child's family, described by the director as being "somewhat pathetic," rescue the girl after battling the beast, the South Korean army, car thieves and poor reception on a cheap mobile phone.
"The Host," opens in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan this month. There are also plans to take it to Europe and to the United States.
The film's success comes on the heels of the South Korean period drama "The King and the Clown" about a tyrannical ruler and his relationship with two court jesters.
The film set a domestic record earlier this year with just over 12 million people.
The movie's success coincides with a roll back in protectionist measures -- demanded by the United States -- that required South Korean cinemas to screen local films for 143 days. Theaters are now required to screen South Korean movies for 73 days.
The film has caused concern among some in the local film industry who felt "The Host" elbowed out homegrown art-house films from local theaters with its Hollywood-style special effects and dark comedy.
"'The Host' violated the coexistence rule of the Korean film and culture industry," Professor Kang Han-sup, from the Seoul Institute of the Arts, wrote in the daily JoongAng Ilbo.
South Korean films have about a 60 percent share of the local box office, the Korean Film Council said.
Local movies have done well in Asia and Hollywood has even remade a few Korean films, including the time-travel romance "Siworae." It was turned into the 2006 film "The Lake House" with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
"The Host," which was made on a 15 billion won ($15.59 million) budget, was in part inspired by an incident six years in which a mortician working for the U.S. military in Seoul dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down the drain.
The incident caused some antagonism against the United States which has maintained a military presence in South Korea for more than 60 years.
The dredging up of the formaldehyde incident in the monster movie hit, prompted South Korea's environment minister to say "The Host" could hurt talks between Washington and Seoul over the return of 59 U.S. military bases to South Korea, local media said.
The two governments have been in talks for more than a year over who will clean up chemical contaminations in the facilities.
Aidan Foster-Carter, an expert on Korean affairs, expressed concern in an article published in the New York Times in August that some opportunists were using "The Host" to score political points from what some say is an underlying anti-U.S. sentiment in the film.
"Harmless fiction? Not quite," Foster-Carter wrote. "Now environmental groups and anti-American partisans are milking 'Guimul' ('The Host') for political gain," he added.
But Bong Joon-ho, the movie's director, has played down the anti-American elements of his film.
Bong said he simply wanted to defy conventions in the monster movie genre, toss in some humor and craft a tale about how the little guy can defeat much more powerful forces.
"My message in this film is that for weak people in society, the world itself can be a monster," Bong told Reuters Television.