Collectors (film)

Collectors is a 2020 South Korean crime comedy film directed by Park Jung-bae and produced by Hwang Dong-hyuk. The film starring Lee Je-hoon, Jo Woo-jin, Shin Hye-sun and Im Won-hee, tells the caper story of a grave robbery taking place in the heart of Seoul.

The film released on November 4, 2020, opened at the top of the local box office, as it sold about 80,000 tickets and grossed 701.6 million KRW (estimated US$626,916) on the opening day.

As of January 2, 2021, Collectors is in 13th place, with a gross of US$12.43 million and 1.52 million admissions, among all the films released in South Korea in the year 2020.

Synopsis
Kang Dong-goo (Lee Je-hoon) is a genius robber with a unique touch and intuition. He works with antiquated burial place mural expert, Dr. Jones (Jo Woo-jin) and legendary shoveling master, Sapdari (Im Won-hee). Curator Yoon (Shin Hye-sun), an antiques expert, offers an appealing but daring heist idea to Kang Dong-goo.

Cast

 * Lee Je-hoon is Kang Dong-goo, a genius robber with a unique touch and intuition.
 * Jo Woo-jin as Dr. Jones, an expert in tomb mural robbery.
 * Shin Hye-sun as Yoon Se-hee, a curator.
 * Im Won-hee as Shovel Leg, named after his legendary shoveling skills.
 * Song Young-chang as Sang-gil
 * Joo Jin-mo as Man-gi
 * Lee Sung-wook as Gwang-chul
 * Park Se-wan as Hye-ri
 * Park Jin-woo as Chief Oh

Production
In March 2019, Lee Je-hoon was confirmed to play the protagonist in the film. In May 2019, Shin Hye-sun's appearance was confirmed in the film.

Release
Collectors was invited at Fantasia International Film Festival to screen the film. The three-week festivals was held from August 5 to 25, 2021 in Montreal. The film was screened in Canadian Premiere section on August 17, 2021.

Box office
The film released on November 4, 2020, opened at top of local box office, as it sold about 80,000 tickets and grossed 701.6 million (around US$626,916). It remained no.1 film on Korean box office for consecutive three weeks from November 8 to November 22, 2020.

According to Korean Film Council data†, it is at 11th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2020, with gross of US$12.15 million and 1.54 million admissions, as of January 3, 2021.

Critical response
Going by Korean review aggregator Naver Movie Database, the film holds an approval rating of 8.48 from the audience.