The Tower (2012 South Korean film)

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The Tower

Promotional poster for The Tower

Hangul 타워

Hanja 타워

Revised Romanization Tawo

McCune–Reischauer T‘awŏ

Directed by Kim Ji-hoon

Produced by Lee Han-seung

Lee Su-man
 Written by Kim Sang-don
Heo Jun-seok

Adaptation
Kim Ji-hoon
Yoo Young-ah
Lee Min-jae

Starring Sol Kyung-gu

Kim Sang-kyung
Son Ye-jin

Music by Kim Tae-seong

Cinematography Kim Young-ho

Edited by Kim Sang-bum

Kim Jae-bum

Production The Tower Pictures

company

Distributed by CJ Entertainment

Release date  December 25, 2012

Running time 121 minutes

Country South Korea

Language Korean

Budget US$9.3 million

Box office US$36.4 million[1]

The Tower (Hangul: 타워; RR: Tawo; "Tower") is a 2012 South Korean disaster thriller film about
a fire that breaks out in a luxury skyscraper in central Seoul on Christmas Eve. The film is
directed by Kim Ji-hoon,[2] and stars Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Sang-kyung and Son Ye-jin in the lead
roles.[3][4] It was released in theaters on Christmas Day, December 25, 2012.[5]

Contents
[hide]

 1Synopsis
 2Cast
 3English Cast
 4Production
 5Box office
 6International
 7Awards and nominations
 8References
 9External links

Synopsis[edit]
Lee Dae-ho (Kim Sang-kyung) is a single father and manager of the 120 story luxurious
landmark building complex, Tower Sky in Yeouido, Seoul. He is an earnest employee liked by his
colleagues and is secretly in love and secretly even wanted to marry with Seo Yoon-hee (Son
Ye-jin), a restaurant manager. The owner of the complex, Mr. Jo decides to hold a "White
Christmas" party for tenants and VIPs on Christmas Eve, with helicopters circling above with
huge lights attached below them, sprinkling snow onto the party. Dae-ho has promised to spend
the day at an amusement park with his daughter Ha-na, but had to cancel when he is needed at
the party. However, the building has faulty water sprinklers due to frozen pipes, but Mr. Cha,
the Tower Sky's safety section head, is more concerned for the party than any possible
architectural errors within the building, despite warnings from his fellow employers about these
errors. (One example of their warnings is when cook Young-cheol (Jeon Bae-soo) accidentally
leaves a stove on for too long and causes a minor fire.) Young-cheo is in love with a receptionist
within the building named Min-jung, and even sneaks out of the kitchen while on duty to make
her an ice cream. Meanwhile, Lee Seon-woo (Do Ji-han) is a rookie fireman entering
the Yeouido Fire Station. When he gets accepted, he learns that many of the firefighters get
more breaks than actual firefighting. In a prank to fool Seon-woo, the other firefighters ring the
fire alarm for the squad to assemble while he takes a shower, causing him to appear in front of
his entire team naked, much to the other firefighters' and even his own pleasure as they put his
helmet on him for the first time.
While the party is in full swing, and while Young-cheo proposes a rose to Min-jung in an elevator,
huge gusts of wind cause one of the helicopters to lose control and the attached lights crash into
the glass bridge connecting the two Tower Sky buildings and into a side of one of the buildings.
Another one of the helicopters then crashes into the building, causing the helicopter to leak fuel
and the building catches fire. Shards of glass fall onto the partygoers below, which include Mr.
Yoon (Song Jae-ho) and his friend Mrs. Jung (Lee Joo-shil), while another one of the huge lights
falls and crashes onto a bus. At one point, while evacuating, some people, including a security
guard, board an elevator despite warnings not to use it, as the security guard rejects Yoon-hee
and Ha-na from entering just as they are about to board. While traveling down, an explosion
occurs below the elevator, which stops it in its path. This literally fries the people inside while
melting their shoes until the elevator explodes, killing everyone in it. Dae-ho moves quickly to
save Ha-na, Yoon-hee and his colleagues. At the same time, firefighters Kang Young-ki (Sol
Kyung-gu) and Seon-woo fight to bring the blaze under control, helping Dae-ho in the process.
Together they fight to save the lives of everyone. While Yoon-hee, Ha-na, Young-cheol, Ming-
jung and the others take refuge in the building's Chinese restaurant, the firefighters decide to
contain the blaze at its origin, the 63rd floor, where the helicopter crashed. Despite containing the
fire on that floor, it spreads further within the building. In the end, Young-ki sacrifices his own life
to save not only Seon-woo, but for all people in the future, as he detonates a bomb to demolish
the building, in order to prevent it from being damaged any further.[6][7][8]

Cast[edit]
 Sol Kyung-gu – Captain Kang Young-ki
 Kim Sang-kyung – Lee Dae-ho
 Son Ye-jin – Seo Yoon-hee[9][10][11][12]
 Kim In-kwon – Sergeant Oh Byung-man
 Ahn Sung-ki – Yeouido Fire Station chief
 Song Jae-ho – Mr. Yoon, the old man
 Lee Joo-shil – Mrs. Jung, Mr. Yoon's friend
 Lee Han-wi – Mr. Kim, church elder
 Kwon Tae-won – Jang, the Fire Commissioner
 Jeon Guk-hyang – Ae-ja
 Jung In-gi – Cha, the safety section head
 Cha In-pyo – President Jo
 Jeon Bae-soo – Young-chul, the cook
 Kim Sung-oh – In-gun
 Min Young – Nam-ok, the pregnant woman
 Park Jun-seo – aide
 Lee Joo-ha – Min-jung, the receptionist
 Do Ji-han – Lee Sun-woo, the rookie fireman[13]
 Jo Min-ah – Lee Ha-na, Dae-ho's daughter
 Lee Sang-hong – Yeouido fireman
 Jin Mo – Yeouido fireman
 Chu Min-ki – Yeouido fireman
 Kang Poong – Yeouido fireman
 Kwon Hyun-sang – Young-hoon
 Lee Chang-yong – command HQ specialist
 Lee Chang-joo – Jo's private secretary
 Park Chul-min – head cook
 Kim Eung-soo – Jin
 Park Jeong-hak – Jung
 Park Yong-su – Park
 Nam Sang-seok – reporter in front of Tower Sky
 Kwon Young-hee – reporter in front of Tower Sky
 Lee Min-woo – reporter in front of Tower Sky

English Cast[edit]
 Captain Kang Young-ki - Buba Kachow
 Lee Dae-ho - Patrick Seitz
 Seo Yoon-hee - Erin Fitzgerald
 Sergeant Oh Byung-man - Sean Chiplock
 In-geon - Lucien Dodge
 Lee Seon-woo - Johnny Yong Bosch
 Lee Ha-na - Cassandra Lee
 Cha - Russel Jimmies
 Mr. Kim - Kyle Hebert
 Mr. Yoon - Steve Mann
 Young-cheol - Todd Haberkorn
 Min-jung - Erika Harlacher

Production[edit]
Director Kim Ji-hoon (who previously helmed Sector 7 and May 18) was inspired by the 1974
Hollywood film The Towering Inferno, and his personal experience seeing the 63
Building in Seoul for the first time as a middle school student and imagining how it would feel to
be trapped inside.[2]
The crew built 26 different sets to create various spaces in the fictional 108-story Tower Sky such
as a Chinese restaurant, elevators and a pedestrian overpass between the two blocks. For the
scenes involving water on the 80th floor, actors Sol Kyung-gu and Kim Sang-kyung filmed in a
water container set in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, without using stuntmen.[14]
Kim worked on the film's post-production for two years. 1,700 cuts out of 3,000 were based
on CGI and 500 of the CG cuts were full 3-D cut scenes. For more authenticity, live action shoots
were combined with CGI, such as the shooting of a miniature in the United States with a motion
control camera for the ending scene.[2]

Box office[edit]
On its theater release on December 25, 2012, The Tower drew 431,759 admissions, the second
highest opening day ticket sales in the history of Korean cinema (after The
Thieves'436,628).[15][16][17] It sold two million tickets in its first week,[18] 3.54 million by its second
week,[19] and 4.45 million by its third week.[20] On January 22, 2013, it became the first Korean film
in 2013 to reach the five million mark.[21][22][23][24]

International[edit]
The film was pre-sold by CJ Entertainment to Entertainment One in UK, Splendid in Germany,
Benelux, Zylo for French-speaking territories, Horizon International in Turkey, Rainbow
Entertainment in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia; and Jonon Source in Mongolia.[25]
The Tower earned HK$4,733,937 at the Hong Kong box office.[26]

Awards and nominations[edit]

2013 Baeksang Arts Awards

 Nomination - Best New Actor - Do Ji-han

2013 Mnet 20's Choice Awards

 Nomination - 20's Booming Star, Male - Do Ji-han

2013 Buil Film Awards

 Nomination - Best Cinematography - Kim Young-ho

2013 Grand Bell Awards

 Technical Award - Digital Idea (visual effects)

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "The Tower (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c Park, Eun-jee (21 December 2012). "The Tower stands tall as a classic disaster
film with a human side". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
3. Jump up^ Hong, Lucia (22 March 2011). "Son Ye-jin, Sul Kyung-gu, Kim Sang-kyung cast for
action pic". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
4. Jump up^ Kim, Hyun-min; Lee, Eun-sun (21 December 2012). "THE TOWER's SOL Kyung-gu &
SON Ye-jin: Actors' Experience from the Desperate Survival Drama". Korean Film Biz Zone.
Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
5. Jump up^ Suk, Monica (23 October 2012). "Seol Kyung-gu, Son Ye-jin's Rescue Drama Arriving
in Theaters in December". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
6. Jump up^ "Line up: The Tower (2012)". CJ Entertainment. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
7. Jump up^ "The Tower (2012)". Korean Film Biz Zone. Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-06-
28.
 8. Jump up^ Elley, Derek (9 February 2013). "The Tower". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2013-02-
09.
9. Jump up^ Lee, Claire (17 December 2012). "Queen of romance returns in disaster flick". The
Korea Herald. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
10. Jump up^ Son, Jin-ah (19 December 2012). "Son Ye Jin talks about casting in Tower". StarN
News. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
11. Jump up^ Lee, Jin-ho (23 December 2012). "Interview: Son Ye Jin Says She Loves Her
30s". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
12. Jump up^ Han, Jae-hee (27 December 2012). "Son Ye-jin a pillar of support in The
Tower". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
13. Jump up^ An, So-hyoun (13 January 2013). "Interview: Do Ji Han Calls Tower a
Gift". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
14. Jump up^ Kim, Hyun-min (28 December 2012). "An Epic Film Capable of Moving Hearts: A
Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Production of TOWER". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2013-
01-21.
15. Jump up^ Kim, Hyun-min (27 December 2012). "The Opening Score of THE TOWER Second
Best in Korean Film History". Korean Film Biz Zone. Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
16. Jump up^ Kim, Nemo (26 December 2012). "Opening Score of Tower 2nd Best in Korean
History". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
17. Jump up^ Sunwoo, Carla (27 December 2012). "The Tower stands tall on first day". Korea
JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
18. Jump up^ Sunwoo, Carla (2 January 2013). "The Tower is No. 1 at the box office". Korea
JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
19. Jump up^ "The Tower Still Drawing Moviegoers". The Chosun Ilbo. 8 January 2013.
Retrieved 2013-01-08.
20. Jump up^ Kim, Hyun-min (15 January 2013). "THE TOWER Surpasses 4,450,000 in 21
Days". Korean Film Biz Zone. Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
21. Jump up^ Oh, Mi-jung; Kim, Erika (22 January 2013). "Tower Becomes First Movie of the Year to
Pass 5 Million". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
22. Jump up^ "Tower exceeds 5 million mark in attendance". Yonhap. 23 January 2013.
Retrieved 2013-01-26.
23. Jump up^ Carla, Sunwoo (24 January 2013). "Tower exceeds 5 million views". Korea JoongAng
Daily. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
24. Jump up^ "The Tower Draws Over 5 Million Moviegoers". The Chosun Ilbo. 25 January 2013.
Retrieved 2013-01-25.
25. Jump up^ "CJ and Showbox close a bevy of international sales". Korean Film Biz Zone. Korean
Film Council. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
26. Jump up^ "The Tower". HK Neo Reviews. 24 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-28.

External links[edit]
 Official website (in Korean)
 Official website (in English)
 The Tower on IMDb
 The Tower at the Korean Movie Database
 The Tower at HanCinema

[hide]

Kim Ji-hoon filmography

Mokpo, Gangster's Paradise (2004)

May 18 (2007)

Sector 7 (2011)

The Tower (2012)

The Aquarium (1996)

Egoism (1996)

Greenhouse (1997)

Categories:

 2012 films
 Korean-language films
 2010s thriller films
 South Korean thriller films
 South Korean films
 South Korean disaster films
 Films about firefighting
 South Korean Christmas films
 Films set in Seoul
 Films shot in Seoul
 Films shot in Incheon
 Films directed by Kim Ji-hoon
 CJ Entertainment films
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