‘Concrete Utopia’: Korea Oscar Entry Sets Early December Theatrical Launch

EXCLUSIVE: Concrete Utopia, South Korea’s International Film Oscar entry this year, will hit theaters in NY and LA on Dec. 8 with a wide release on Dec. 15.  In the U., 815 Pictures and Seismic Releasing are releasing the Lotte Entertainment feature.

The movie opened in South Korea on Aug. 9 and minted over $27M there, and close to $29M overall including Hong Kong and Vietnam.

The Um Tae-hwa directed disaster epic centers around a massive earthquake in Seoul. Everything in the city has collapsed, except for one building. Hwang Gung Apartments remains standing, as it was before that day. When survivors from the outside hear of this, they begin to gather at Hwang Gung Apartments. However, the original residents of the building start to feel threatened. Banding together for the sake of their survival, they elect ‘Young-tak’ as their Resident Delegate. Under his leadership, they strictly ban entry by outsiders and draw up a new set of Resident Regulations. Thanks to this, in contrast to the hellish nightmare outside, Hwang Gung Apartments stands as a safe and peaceful utopia for its residents. But amidst the continual threats to their survival, unexpected conflicts begin to arise among them…

The movie is based on Kim Soong-Nyung’s webtoon Cheerful Outcast Part II, Cheerful Neighbor. The pic stars Lee Byung-han, Park Seo-jun, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, Kim Do-yoon.

On December 8 there are no studio wide releases; only GKID’s animated pic The Boy and the Heron, as well as several limited arthouse titles including Searchlight’s Venice Film Festival winner Poor Things, Searchlight’s Sundance pick-up Magazine Dreams, and NEON’s moderate release of Anne Hathaway-Thomasin McKenzie thriller Eileen. On Dec. 15, wide releases are Sony romantic comedy Anyone But You and Warner Bros.’ Wonka.