Synopsis
Tells the story of young, ambitious South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee, who met and fell in love in 1950s post-war Korea. In the 70s, after reaching the top of Korean society following a string of successful films, Choi was kidnapped in Hong Kong by North Korean agents and taken to meet Kim Jong-il. While searching for Choi, Shin also was kidnapped, and following five years of imprisonment, the couple was reunited by the movie-obsessed Kim, who declared them his personal filmmakers. Choi and Shin planned their escape, but not before producing 17 feature films for the dictator and gaining his trust in the process.
Metrics
Movie Details
United Kingdom Releases: |
September 23rd, 2016 (Wide), released as The Lovers and the Despot |
Video Release: |
September 23rd, 2016 by Magnolia Home Entertainment |
MPAA Rating: |
Not Rated |
Running Time: |
95 minutes |
Keywords: |
Set in South Korea, Set in North Korea, Movie Director, Film Actor, Kidnap, Early / Simultaneous Video-on-Demand release, Government Corruption, 1960s, 1970s, Escape |
Source: | Based on Real Life Events |
Genre: | Documentary |
Production Method: | Live Action |
Creative Type: | Factual |
Production/Financing Companies: |
BFI, Creative England, BBC Storyville, The Documentary Company, Influence Films, ZDF/ARTE, SVT, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, NTR , Pumpernickel Films, Submarine Entertainment, Hellflower Film, Tigerlily Films, Tribeca Documentary Fund, Media Programme of the European Union |
Production Countries: |
United Kingdom |
Languages: |
English, Japanese, Korean |
September 28th, 2016
Like last week, no films joined the $10,000 club this past weekend. Two came close though. Firstly, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy earned $9,511 in its lone theater. That’s excellent for a documentary and hopefully this start will help it be seen by more. The number one overall film, The Magnificent Seven, was close behind with an average of $9,446.
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September 23rd, 2016
Like last week, approximately 30 films open in limited release this week. That is far too many and all but ensures most will not find an audience. Furthermore, it means I have to be a little more liberal when it comes to pruning releases that don’t have enough buzz to talk about. There are lots of films that still made the cut, including a few highlights: The Age of Shadows, Audrie & Daisy, The Dressmaker, The Lovers And The Despot, My Blind Brother, and Queen of Katwe. Some of these are playing on VOD, so they will go nowhere in theaters. Several are aiming for Oscars, including Queen of Katwe, which will expand semi-wide next week.
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Because some of our sources provide box office data in their local currency, while we use USD in the graph above and table below, exchange rate fluctuations can have effect on the data causing stronger increases or even decreases of the cumulative box office.
Weekend Box Office Performance
Date | Rank | Gross | % Change | Screens | Per Screen | Total Gross | Week |
2016/09/23 |
- |
$7,198 |
|
6 |
$1,200 |
$7,198 |
1 |
2016/09/30 |
- |
$1,272 |
-82% |
4 |
$318 |
$10,337 |
2 |
2016/10/07 |
- |
$55 |
-96% |
1 |
$55 |
$12,014 |
3 |
Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.
Production and Technical Credits
The bold credits above the line are the "above-the-line" credits, the other the "below-the-line" credits.