Director Ryoo Seung-wan’s film ‘HUMINT’ starts streaming on Netflix on April 1. The movie opened in theaters on February 11 and is heading to OTT in under two months.
‘HUMINT’ launched ambitiously for Lunar New Year but lost out to rival ‘The King's Warden,’ resulting in a box-office miss. With a production budget of 23.5 billion won, the break-even point was around 4 million admissions. As it enters week seven, the cumulative audience stands at 1,979,639. It grabbed No. 1 at the box office on opening day, but ceded the top spot to ‘The King's Warden’ from day two, and the gap widened over the holiday frame.
It’s the first Ryoo Seung-wan title to fall short of 2 million admissions since 2008’s ‘Dachimawa Lee,’ which was an independent film. Even over the past three years―despite a sluggish theatrical market―‘I, the Executioner’ (7.52 million) and ‘Smugglers’ (5.14 million) were major hits, making ‘HUMINT’’s slump especially stark.
What cut deeper was the audience response. While press and critics praised the film before release, reactions split once it opened. Viewers balked at a spy movie light on espionage and heavier on romance, and criticism over the portrayal of women also slowed word of mouth.
During this time, ‘The King's Warden’ dominated, surpassing 10 million admissions on day 31 and 14 million in 45 days.
Ryoo maintained a cool stance in interviews and on TV regarding both box office and audience feedback―quite different from his previously sharper reactions to criticism.
On "Sohn's Questions"―an appearance that aired when momentum had already faded, blunting any promo effect and casting a somber mood―Ryoo said, “In terms of completeness, this is a first for me. With this film, I felt like I tried everything, so I have no regrets. I really did everything I wanted to try throughout the process.”
He also sincerely congratulated longtime friend director Jang Hang-jun on his success, saying, “It’s so great to see a director who has struggled for a long time finally make it.”
‘HUMINT’ stumbled in theaters but will recoup a significant portion of losses through its Netflix deal. It’s a similar case to ‘Hansan: Rising Dragon’ (2022), which moved to OTT just a month after release. ‘HUMINT’ is arriving on Netflix in under two months and is still playing on 112 screens nationwide. While contract details are confidential, the film is effectively heading to Netflix with no hold-back period (Hold-back: the window between theatrical release and availability on other platforms), suggesting a top-tier deal by industry standards.
All eyes are on whether ‘HUMINT’ will find fresh momentum with global exposure on Netflix. The platform said it will support subtitles in 33 languages―including French, German, and Chinese―and dubs in 21 languages, including English, Spanish, and Japanese. ‘No Other Choice,’ another film that faltered in theaters, also drew a wider range of reactions after its Netflix debut earlier this year.
Ryoo’s next project is ‘Veteran 3.’ Filming was set to begin in early April but has been postponed due to the director’s health condition.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)
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