Civic activists hold a protest as part of a boycott campaign against Japanese goods while showing a list of Japanese brands in front of a branch of Uniqlo, a Japanese casual wear retailer, in Sejong on July 18, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jul. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – The campaign to boycott Japanese products and services has spread to the movie industry.
Japanese animations that were recently released or are about to be released have been hit directly by the boycott.
“Butt Detective: The Movie”, which was released on July 11, is under attack on the comments section of Naver’s movie site. Such attacks are in contrast to the actual reviews, in which most viewers gave the film 10 stars.
With the arise of the boycott, the movie’s box office ranking is fluctuating.
“Butt Detective: The Movie” started in eighth place and climbed to fourth place, but plunged back to 18th place before rising to eighth place as of Sunday.
Online communities also uploaded postings appealing for participation in a boycott of the upcoming “Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire”, which will be released Wednesday.
“We are currently reducing promotional marketing or events to meet public sentiment and taking public interest into account,” said a representative for distribution of the movie.
Meanwhile, the Chungbuk International Martial Arts and Action Film Festival, which kicks off on August 29, unveiled and replaced the festival’s official poster featuring the Japanese swordsman film “Zatoichi.”
Considering the recent Korea-Japan relationship and public sentiment, some in the movie industry say that while they understand the boycott, they are sorry and disappointed.
“Japanese films account for a very small portion of the domestic film industry,” a source from the film industry said.
The source added with caution that, “As general consumer goods and movies are different things, we should look at them in terms of cultural diversity.”
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
