KOREAN beauties Jeon Ji Hyun, Kim Tae Hee and Han Ye Seul have one thing in common - they are every advertiser’s dream come true.
Hailed as A-list stars, they make headlines whenever their new TV commercials get aired. And products fly off the shelves when their lovely smiles beckon consumers.
Ironically though, these Queens Of Endorsements have turned out to be every movie investor’s worst nightmare.
While there is always plenty of media hype before the release of their new films, their lacklustre box-office results is prompting critics to question their acting credibility and ticketing appeal.
Willowy babe Ji Hyun, of My Sassy Girl fame, is the latest to be labelled a box- office flop, despite her commendable effort in trying to shed her picture-perfect image.
In her new comedy A Man Who Was Superman, she plays a chain-smoking, workaholic TV news producer who stumbles upon a man (Hwang Jung Min) who claims to be superman.
BREAKTHROUGH ROLE
It is considered a breakthrough role for her, as she reportedly made the ultimate sacrifice of smoking a cigarette for the first time in her life.
To look her part, Ji Hyun, 27, also cut a fringe and messed up her signature silky straight tresses that helm a shampoo brand. She also appeared without a trace of makeup.
But her efforts don’t seem to have paid off.
Despite reasonably good reviews, The Chosun Ilbo reported that A Man Who Was Superman drew a disappointingly low number of 200,000 admissions in the first week of its release on 31 Jan in Korea.
Industry experts were surprised, as the film also boasts two other trump cards - critically-acclaimed director Jeong Yoon Cheol (Marathon) and award-winning actor Jung Min (You Are My Sunshine).
A clearly-puzzled industry source told The Chosun Ilbo: ‘Aren’t fans waiting for (Jeon Ji Hyun) to break out of her Advertising Queen image and become a true actor’
So, what went wrong’
One hint came from a trend study by Sports Seoul newspaper last month, which showed that big names in movies and box-office results are now in ‘inverse proportion’.
With cinema-goers becoming more sophisticated and demanding, A-list names are no longer a big enough draw - especially those who are not ‘equipped with confident acting skills’.
Actress Tae Hee, for one, is lauded for her beauty and intellect - she graduated from the elite Seoul National University - but gets butchered for her lousy acting.
When her two films - sci-fi flick The Restless in 2006 and action comedy Venus And Mars last December - both flopped in the box-office, critics were quick to put the blame on her.
In Venus And Mars, the 28-year-old stars as a hot-tempered glass artist who often gets violent with her husband (Sol Kyung Gu) whom she hates.
EXTREME MAKEOVER
Some reports raved over her extreme makeover and compared her to Angelina Jolie in Mr And Mrs Smith.
Tae Hee’s co-star Kyung Gu also praised her performance, adding that ’she hits you to the point where she hurts her own fist’, reported The Korea Times.
The Chosun Ilbo noted that Tae Hee worked so hard during her movie promotional period that she fell sick and almost lost her voice.
The paper also said in a separate report that a major problem in Venus And Mars was that it did not explain why the couple was fighting so vehemently.
The actress herself revealed during a media conference that she is not as demure as she appears to be.
‘My brother calls me ‘iron foot’ because I used to kick him a lot. Once I broke a window trying to get him when he escaped to the veranda.’
But when the film drew mixed reviews and a mere 328,000 admissions after it opened on 13 Dec, detractors quickly fingered her bad acting as the sole cause.
Meanwhile, Tae Hee has taken the torrent of criticism in her stride.
She told The Chosun Ilbo that online criticism of her used to make her feel ‘frustrated and angry to the point of not wanting to live anymore’.
‘But at the same time, something inside me refuses to accept those comments and drives me to work harder to get recognition one day.’
Luckily for her, her box-office failing has not affected her advertising appeal. A recent survey named her as the most preferred TV advertisement model by marketing companies in the second half of 2007, beating the ‘unshakeable’ No.1 queen, Ji Hyun.
Tae Hee is the face of at least six popular brands, including LG Cyon mobile phones, Hera cosmetics and Olympus camera.
Just last month, Prugio condominiums signed her up as its latest spokesmodel, replacing actress Kim Nam Joo who helmed the brand name for the past five years.
FRONTING BIG BRANDS
Also doing well in advertisements despite failing at the box-office is feisty babe Ye Seul, 26, whose latest feat is becoming the face of sports giant Reebok.
Never mind that her big screen debut Miss Gold Digger, last December, was a major flop with only 269,000 admissions.
The Korean-American actress, who shot to fame in late 2006 in the drama Fantasy Couple, plays a calculating woman out to hunt for a rich and capable husband.
The Korea Herald slammed the film’s ’shambolic product placement’.
The Chosun Ilbo said although she was ‘outrageous but cute’ in the movie, she shared little chemistry with her male co-stars.
But it seems that advertisers still adore Ye Seul.
American denim wear James Jeans recently appointed her as spokesmodel and she got to design and launch her own line of Leslie Jeans, using her own English name.
With the Reebok endorsement, Ye Seul is also slated to appear in promotional activities with Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson and China’s basketball hero Yao Ming.
Perhaps the most seasoned box-office poison of them all is Ji Hyun, something of a one-hit wonder as all her films after the 2002 hit My Sassy Girl have bombed.
But the face of Samsung Anycall mobile phone and Elastine haircare never gives up trying to challenge herself in unusual roles that may or may not bring in the audience.
She told Dong-A Ilbo last month: ‘I feel easy about living as an actress and getting older as an actress.
‘I think I will have more to show…in the future. It’s because I think I can slowly improve.’
[by evodrift]
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