Midnight Runners

Midnight Runners (Korean: 청년경찰; Hanja: 靑年警察; RR: Cheongnyeon gyeongchal; lit. Young Cop) is a 2017 South Korean action comedy film directed by Jason Kim (Kim Ju-hwan) and starring Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul. The film was released on August 9, 2017.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Midnight Runners
Theatrical release poster
Hangul청년경찰
Hanja靑年警察
Revised RomanizationCheongnyeon gyeongcha
Directed byJason Kim (Kim Ju-hwan)
Produced byKim Jae-joong
Screenplay byJason Kim
StarringPark Seo-joon
Kang Ha-neul
Production
company
Movie Rock
Distributed byLotte Entertainment
Release date
  • August 9, 2017 (2017-08-09)
Running time
109 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$7 million[1]
Box officeUS$38.7 million[2]

Plot

Ki-joon (Park Seo-joon) and Hee-yeol (Kang Ha-neul) are students at the Korean National Police University. At around midnight one night, they witness a kidnapping on their way back from the club. The local police station's missing persons department, however, is busy with the kidnapping of a son of a business mogul at the time and is unable to investigate the case. Knowing that they are in the critical hours after a kidnapping, they embark on their own amateur investigation.[9]

When Ki-joon and Hee-yeol catch up with the kidnappers, it appears that the gang is running an unfertilized egg harvesting ring and there are many more girls locked up at their hideout. Ki-joon and Hee-yeol tries to save them but are instead beaten and locked up.

After escaping their captors, they return the next day to an empty hideout and a cold trail. As they are not acting police officers, their professor tells them not to pursue the case any further. Unable to wait for the bureaucracy to resolve the case, they once again embark on their own investigation. They undergo heavy physical training and manage to track the kidnappers down, with the help of CCTV footage, to a fertility clinic. Armored up, the duo venture in to liberate the girls by themselves, this time much more prepared, successfully taking out all the kidnappers and the kidnapper's boss. Unable to arrest the kidnappers and rescue all the kidnapped girls themselves, they call the police in, knowing they might get expelled for their actions. However, due to some among the disciplinary committee believing that they had done the right thing morally, they are instead held back a year in their studies and sentenced to 500 hours of community service, leaving the two satisfied with the outcome.

In a mid-credit scene, the girl kidnapped at the beginning of the film visits Ki-joon and Hee-yeol as they're serving their community service and thanks them.

Cast

Main

Ki-joon is a light-hearted, risk-taker who acts first and thinks later.[11]

Hee-yeol is the total opposite of Ki-joon. He is fairly nerdy and more of thinker than a doer.[13]

Others
  • Park Ha-sun as Lee Joo-hee (Medusa) [14]
  • Sung Dong-il as Professor Yang Sung-il
  • Go Jun as Yang-choon
  • Bae Yoo-ram as Jae-ho
  • Lee Ho-jung as Lee Yoon-jung
  • Lee Jun-hyuk as Professor Ha
  • Seo Jung-yeon as Ki-joon's mother
  • Choi Hong-il as Hee-yeol's father
  • Byeon Woo-seok
  • Jung Ye-ji as Dan-yeong, Police Force Student

Production

Midnight Runners marks Park Seo-joon's first time playing a lead role in a film.[10]

Midnight Runners was sold to six countries at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market. The rights to the film have been purchased by companies including Japan's The Klockworx, Taiwan's Long Shong, Hong Kong's Deltamac HK, Philippines' Viva Comm and Singapore's Purple Plan.[15]

Filming began on November 21, 2016 in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea and ended on February 23, 2017.[16][17]

Release and reception

Local

The film was released on August 9, 2017. It was screened across South Korea in 1,058 theatres.[18] The film placed second at the box office on the opening day and earned US$1.97 million with a total of 308,303 ticket sales.

During the first five days of its release, the film attracted 1.9 million viewers[19] and earned a total of US$13.6 million.[20]

Within the first eight days after its release, the movie garnered 2.73 million admissions, earning a total of US$18.9 million, which exceeded the production budget of US$6.13 million.[21]

By August 20, less than two weeks after the movie was released, Midnight Runners had been watched by a total of 3,906,566 people.[22][23] By August 21, within 13 days after its premiere, the movie surpassed 4 million ticket sales.[24] As of August 24, the film has grossed US$30 million with a total of 4.3 million ticket sales.[25] The total number of admissions increased to 4.83 million by August 27, 19 days after the movie was released, and the film earned a gross income of US$34.04 million.[26] As of September 14, five weeks after its release, the film reached 5.61 million admissions mark with US$39 million gross, making it the 4th highest-grossing South Korean film in 2017.[27]

International

Midnight Runners was screened in 12 countries. After the initial release in local cinemas, the film was released in Indonesia on August 23, followed by North America on August 25, Australia on August 31 then proceeded to be screened in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Britain, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.[28]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2017 26th Buil Film Awards Best New Actor Park Seo-joon Nominated
37th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards Won [29]
Top 10 Films Midnight Runners Won
54th Grand Bell Awards Best New Actor Park Seo-joon Won
Best New Director Jason Kim Nominated
1st The Seoul Awards Best New Actor Park Seo-joon Nominated
6th Korea Film Actors Association Awards Popular Star Award Won [30][31]
2018 9th Korea Film Reporters Association Film Awards (KOFRA) Best New Actor Won [32]
23rd Chunsa Film Art Awards Nominated [33]

References
  1. 조재영 (31 July 2017). "김주환 감독 "'청년경찰'은 성장영화…세상을 구하는 건 열정"". yonhapnews.co.kr. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. "Midnight Runners (2017)". koreanfilm.or.kr. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  3. POP, 헤럴드 (2016-10-13). "'청년경찰' 박서준X강하늘 투톱 캐스팅, 충무로 대세 뭉쳤다" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  4. E., Maolen (2016-11-14). "Kang Ha-Neul, Park Seo-Joon's new film 'Young Cop' nabs Park Ha-Seon". Yibada English. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  5. "[단독] 강하늘, '청년경찰' 합류…박서준과 투톱호흡" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  6. Herald, The Korea (17 July 2017). "Park Seo-joon, Kang Ha-neul play opposites in upcoming buddy movie 'Midnight Runners'". koreaherald.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  7. "Chinese urge suspension of 'Midnight Runners'". koreatimes.co.kr. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  8. 기자, 배정환 (2019-06-21). "영화 '청년경찰' 흥미로운 스토리 설정…현장경험 전무, 수사는 책으로 배웠다! - 경상일보". www.ksilbo.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  9. Kim Su-jung (July 24, 2017). "'청년경찰' 박서준x강하늘 여심자극 상남자 액션" [Youth Police' Park Sook-joon x River Sky Emotional Stimulus Man Action] (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  10. "Park Seo-jun to play police cadet in new film". Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  11. Rumy Doo (July 17, 2017). "Park Seo-joon, Kang Ha-neul play opposites in upcoming buddy movie 'Midnight Runners'". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  12. "박서준X강하늘, 영화 '청년경찰' 투톱 캐스팅 '대세 모였다'" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  13. Riddhiman Mukhopadhyay (July 18, 2017). "Kang Ha Neul says his character in 'Midnight Runners' is like Sheldon Cooper in 'The Big Bang Theory'". International Business Times. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  14. "Park Ha-seon to co-star with Park Seo-joon, Kang Ha-neul". Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  15. "'Midnight Runners' sold to 6 countries". Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  16. "박서준-강하늘 '청년경찰' 크랭크인 '2017년 가장 젊고 빠른 영화될 것'" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  17. "Kang Ha-neul, Park Seo-joon wrap up filming for 'Young Cops'". Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  18. Lee Hyo-won (2017-08-14). "South Korea Box Office: Local Drama 'A Taxi Driver' Becomes Top Film of 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  19. Shim Sun-ah (2017-08-14). "'A Taxi Driver' wins second weekend". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  20. Sonia Kil (2017-08-13). "Korea Box Office: 'Taxi Driver' Outpaces 'Midnight Runners'". Variety. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  21. Jon Maala (2017-08-16). "'Midnight Runners' to be shown in Singapore, 11 other countries". International Business Times. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  22. Shim Sun-ah (2017-08-21). "Two Korean films sweep weekend box office". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  23. Jin Min-ji (2017-08-22). "[Korean Box Office] 'A Taxi Driver' speeds past 10 million ticket sales". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  24. Kwak Myung-dong (2017-08-21). "'청년경찰' 개봉 13일만에 400만 돌파, "관객 취향 저격"" (in Korean). My Daily. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  25. Jon Maala (2017-08-25). "'V.I.P.' tops Korean box office for second straight day". International Business Times. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  26. Jon Maala (2017-08-28). "Park Seo Joon, Song Kang Ho top latest movie actors' brand values". International Business Times. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  27. . Korean Film Council. 2017-09-14 http://www.kobis.or.kr/kobis/business/stat/boxs/findDailyBoxOfficeList.do?loadEnd=0&searchType=search&sSearchFrom=2017-09-07&sSearchTo=2017-09-14&sMultiMovieYn=&sRepNationCd=&sWideAreaCd=. Retrieved 14 September 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. "'Midnight Runners' to open in 12 foreign countries". Yonhap News Agency. 2017-08-16.
  29. "THE FORTRESS Dominates 37th Korean Film Critics Association Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. 30 October 2017.
  30. "제6회 톱스타상, 수상자 절반이 불참...반쪽짜리 시상식 [종합]". Osen (in Korean). December 28, 2017.
  31. "Top Star Awards for NA Moon-hee, LEE Jung-hyun, CHOI Min-shik and Hyun-bin". Korean Film Biz Zone. January 8, 2018.
  32. "'1987' chosen by film reporters as the best film of 2017". Yonhap News Agency. January 30, 2018.
  33. "제23회 춘사영화제 5월18일 개최..홍상수·김민희 참석하나". Newsen (in Korean). May 3, 2018.
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