Na Hong-jin's Hope leads Blue Dragon Film Awards with 10 nominations

Na Hong-jin's 'Hope' has secured 10 nominations at the 47th Blue Dragon Film Awards, surpassing the 7 nominations received by 'The King's Warden'. The film, which drew 4.59 million viewers, is nominated in categories including Best Picture and Best Director.

Na Hong-jin's epic 'Hope', which utilized a production budget of over 70 billion won, has demonstrated its presence at award ceremonies following its box office success. The film, which drew a cumulative audience of 4.59 million, has become the most nominated film at the 47th Blue Dragon Film Awards with a total of 10 nominations. It surpassed even the hit 'The King's Warden', which drew 16.93 million viewers this year, in terms of the number of nominations. Following its impact on theaters, the film appears poised to take over major film awards.

According to the final list of nominees announced by the Blue Dragon Film Awards secretariat on the 28th, 'Hope' is named in 10 categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. It took the top spot for most nominations, ahead of Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love', which received 8 nominations, and 'The King's Warden', which received 7. This is significant as it suggests the film is being recognized for its direction, acting, and technical perfection, moving beyond the realm of commercial films evaluated solely by box office scale.

The competition among actors is also intense. 'Hope' has placed Zo In-sung as a nominee for Best Actor, Eum Moon-suk for Best Supporting Actor, and Jung Ho-yeon for Best New Actress. The film was also heavily included in categories evaluating visual and auditory perfection, such as Cinematography, Music, Art Direction, Editing, and Technical Effects. Attention is focused on how much a film that combines genre imagination with a large-scale production system will be evaluated in both acting and technology.

Notably, Zo In-sung has been nominated for Best Actor for 'Hope' while simultaneously being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'Possible Love'. This creates an unusual situation where a single actor competes in both lead and supporting categories across different works, which is another highlight of this year's Blue Dragon Film Awards. 'Possible Love' showed its presence across major acting categories, with Sul Kyung Gu and Jeon Do-yeon nominated for lead roles, and Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong nominated for supporting roles. This work also drew attention as the first collaboration between director Lee Chang-dong and Netflix.

The competition for Best Picture is even more fierce. 'Hope' will compete against 'Colony', 'The World of Love', 'The Assassin(s)', and 'The King's Warden', pitting films of different styles against one another. The directors of the nominated films, including Na Hong-jin, will also compete for Best Director. As works with mass appeal and those with distinct auteurist colors are evaluated on the same stage, interest is high regarding which trend in Korean cinema the Blue Dragon Film Awards will emphasize this year.

The achievements of 'Hope' are evaluated as stemming from the film's unique setting and genre challenges. Set in Hopo Port located in the Demilitarized Zone, the film depicts the events that unfold when branch manager Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min) goes to investigate after hearing news from village youths that a tiger has appeared. In a space where the familiar order of reality is shaken, the characters face incomprehensible events. By combining a setting that utilizes the unique location of the Demilitarized Zone with mystery and action, the film built a scale and atmosphere different from existing Korean commercial films.

The cast is also illustrious. In addition to domestic actors such as Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, and Eum Moon-suk, international actors including Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender joined the production. As a project combining a large production budget with international casting, it garnered interest from both domestic and foreign film industries from the production stage. Another major topic surrounding the work was how Na Hong-jin, who demonstrated intense genre directing in 'The Chaser', 'The Yellow Sea', and 'The Wailing', would expand the boundaries of the genre this time.

It is reported that more than 70 billion won was invested in 'Hope', which was released on July 15. It was a project of significant scale within the domestic film industry and garnered high expectations, with pre-orders exceeding 600,000 copies before its release. The film met audiences through various special theater formats such as Dolby, IMAX, ScreenX, and 4DX, and surpassed 4.5 million cumulative viewers in August, drawing crowds during the summer theater season. It ultimately left its presence as a major project by recording 4.59 million viewers.

However, box office scale and award ceremony achievements are separate areas of evaluation. While the result of 4.59 million viewers shows the public interest secured by the work in theaters, it is difficult to determine the investment profitability considering the production cost of over 70 billion won based solely on the number of viewers. The fact that it was nominated in 10 categories at this Blue Dragon Film Awards means that, apart from box office indicators, the film's direction and technical achievements were noted in the evaluation. Whether the result of most nominations leads to the most wins remains to be seen at the ceremony.

Viewing routes have expanded since its theatrical release. Since the 21st, 'Hope' has begun its simultaneous VOD service with theaters, making it available for purchase on various platforms including IPTV, cable TV, and Skylife, as well as Coupang Play, WATCHA, Wavve, TVING, and Apple TV. Some platforms conducted pre-order sales, and the film is provided not only in HD but also in 4K quality, which is relatively rare for Korean films. However, the release schedule through monthly subscription OTT services has not yet been confirmed. During a special GV in July, Na Hong-jin expressed his commitment to theatrical screenings by stating there were no plans for an OTT release.

The final winners will be announced at the 47th Blue Dragon Film Awards ceremony, which will be held on the 25th of next month at the KBS Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. As the results of netizen voting are also reflected, how audience support for the work will influence the awards competition is also a point of interest. Whether 'Hope', having achieved the feat of most nominations, can sweep the trophies and establish itself as a representative work of Korean cinema this year is the focus of the film industry, as eyes turn to see what results Na Hong-jin's epic will yield in this final showdown following its theatrical success and achievements at international film festivals.

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