Roaring Currents makes waves for CJ

Korean distributor CJ Entertainment has sold all-time local hit Roaring Currents to a slew of territories including Germany (KSM), Latin America (Alebrije) and Italy (Minerva).

Starring Choi Min-shik, the historical naval battle drama also sold to Benelux and Scandinavia (Splendid), Taiwan (Movie Cloud), India (Visual Reality), Turkey (Medyavizyon) and Mongolia (Bloomsbury). Pay TV rights for Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam went to Popcorn, and in-flight rights to Emphasis.

At AFM, CJ is screening a newly edited international version of the film, 20 minutes shorter to pick up the pace. CJ says this edit was originally started for mainland China censors but was judged to be better for other overseas audiences’ understanding of the film as well. The market premiere screening is on Nov 7.

The company reports Roaring Currents has opened in the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand, becoming the biggest box office hit for a Korean film in each of these countries. In China, the film will have a wide release on more than 3,000 screens at the end of the year.

CJ’s AFM slate also includes hitmaker JK Youn’s Ode To My Father, starring Hwang Jung-min (The Unjust) and Yunjin Kim (Harmony); Yim Pil-sung’s erotic vengeance drama Scarlet Innocence, starring Jung Woo-sung (Reign Of Assassins), which world premiered in Toronto; Korea-Vietnam co-production Let Hoi Decide, a romantic comedy directed by Charlie Nguyen (The Rebel) - CJ’s first Vietnamese-language investment; and Korea-China co-production 20, Once Again, directed by Leste Chen - the Chinese remake of Korean hit comedy romance Miss Granny.