“Battleship Island,” the war pic that debuted on top of South Korea’s box office last week, will release in 40 North American cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Dallas, on Friday.
Starring Song Joong-ki, Hwang Jung-min and So Ji-sub, and directed by Ryu Seung-wan, who helmed the box office juggernaut “Veteran” in 2015, the film is based on the true story of Korean civilians during Japanese colonial rule in World War II.
In Los Angeles and Buena Park, the film will be available to view in ScreenX.
Here’s the synopsis from CJ Entertainment, the film’s distributor: “In 1944, 400 conscripted Korean civilians head out to Hashima Island. Nicknamed “The Battleship Island” after its resemblance to a war vessel, many were lured by false promises of high wages. Upon arrival, they found that workers are forced into slave labor. As the U.S. launches a massive counterattack on Japan, the Japanese decide to blow up the island in order to bury the truth about their awful treatment of the Korean slave labors. A Korean independence activist discovers the plan and works with others on the island for a mass escape.”
Song, a K-drama heartthrob, was last seen in “Descendants of the Sun,” while the film marks the first role for So since 2015. Hwang, a prolific and lauded film actor, starred last year in two films that made South Korea’s Top 10 box office winners.
In Korea, “Battleship” has scored the best film opening of the year so far, and has as of Wednesday sold five million tickets. Before its premiere, it screened at Cannes and was pre-sold to 113 worldwide territories.
