Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho get nothing if film falls short of break-even

People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo. [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo. [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo has disclosed the performance-based incentive terms in the contracts of actors Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho for the film "The Assassin," separate from their base fees.

On Thursday, Joo posted the contract details on his Facebook page under the title "Incentives the actors stand to earn from the immoral film 'The Assassin.'"

According to the documents Joo released, Yoo Hae-jin is entitled to 10 percent of the film's net profit as an incentive through the fourth settlement. Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho each receive 200 won and 180 won per ticket sold after the film passes its theatrical break-even point.

"The actors earn incentive income on top of their guaranteed fees," Joo said, adding that "those who distorted history with public money and turned a historical tragedy into a moneymaking scheme must be held accountable."

Joo also attached the caption "Was this the reason they absolutely refused to apologize?" to an image containing the same information.

A scene from "The Assassin," a film based on the shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo. [Yonhap]
A scene from "The Assassin," a film based on the shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo. [Yonhap]

Running guarantees — additional pay tied to box office performance — are a longstanding practice in the Korean film industry.

The arrangement became common in the early 2000s, with a typical structure paying actors several hundred won per ticket sold once a film clears its break-even point. Actor Lee Byung-hun received a running guarantee of 400 million won on top of a base fee of 600 million won ($448,000) for the 2012 film "Masquerade."

"The Assassin" carried a total production budget of about 19 billion won, with its theatrical break-even estimated at roughly 3.5 million to 4 million admissions. The film opened Sept. 23, surpassed 2 million cumulative admissions on Saturday and stood at 2,520,865 admissions as of Wednesday.

Should the film attract 1 million additional viewers beyond the break-even point, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho would receive 200 million won and 180 million won, respectively. Yoo Hae-jin's incentive is tied to net profit rather than ticket sales.

"The Assassin" is a mystery thriller inspired by the shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo at a Liberation Day ceremony on Aug. 15, 1974.

Director Heo Jin-ho appeared on the YouTube channel "Bong Ji-wook's Off the Record" on Sept. 30 and said the film drew on records of shell casings and bullet trajectories previously covered in terrestrial television documentaries, presenting them as cinematic hypotheses with no specific political intent.


dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com