…in case you were wondering, which you probably weren’t.

MBC’s weekend miniseries Friend, Our Legend [친구, 우리들의 전설] has not had the buzzed-about broadcast run it was hoping for when it adapted one of the biggest box-office hits in Korean film history and cast name stars like Hyun Bin and Kim Min-joon in the leads. I wouldn’t call it an abject failure… but nobody could say it hasn’t been disappointing.

In fact, the drama has most recently had to fight rumors that it is cutting its broadcast run and ending early. The production has come out and issued strong denials, stating that the drama has always been planned for 20 installments and has already completed those episodes.

(...)
Read the rest of Friend will not be ending early (296 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, Hyun Bin, Kim Min-joon

With Brilliant Legacy out of the picture, KBS’s cheery family drama Sons of Sol Pharmacy has reclaimed the top spot as the number 1 weekend drama after ten weeks of being pushed aside by the now-wrapped Brilliant Legacy.

Sol Pharmacy’s Saturday episode recorded a 26.3% just as its storyline gets more interesting in the Dae-pung and Bok-shil area. On the other hand, a new contender, SBS’s Style, premiered well with a 17.6%. That number made it number 1 in its time slot, and number 2 among the weekend dramas overall.

(...)
Read the rest of Sol Pharmacy reclaims top weekend spot (241 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drama ratings, Friend, Iron Empress, Job Well Done, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Style

I haven’t had a chance to see the newly aired drama Friend, Our Legend [친구, 우리들의 전설], but perhaps you have. It premiered this past weekend on MBC, and has been the source of a lot of curiosity, given its cast (Hyun Bin, Kim Min-joon), director (Kwak Kyung-taek of the film), and high-profile source material (the movie Friend) which starred one of Korea’s most famous and well-liked movie actors, Jang Dong-gun. Naturally people have been prepared to draw comparisons between the two versions (and two lead actors in the main role of Dong-soo).

On the drama’s upside, the entire series has been produced in its entirety, meaning that the actors are now done filming and the production won’t be in a race to beat the clock to get the episodes on air. Furthermore, having the same director behind both projects pre-empts some of the comments that the drama is merely aping the style of its film predecessor.

Here’s an interview with Hyun Bin from last week, published just a few days before the drama’s premiere.

(...)
Read the rest of Hyun Bin isn’t afraid of the Friend comparisons (706 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, Hyun Bin, interviews

Are you excited for the new drama Friend, Our Legend?

If you’re not, that’s okay. I’m not, either, despite (or perhaps because of) all the hype. But there are a lot of dramas that I didn’t expect to like initially that I did in the end, so I won’t make a call until it’s aired. And that’ll be soon — with the weekend drama Strike Love meeting an ignominious end, Friend, Our Legend will be airing a little sooner than originally planned; it premieres on Saturday, June 27, on MBC.

(...)
Read the rest of Newest posters for Friend, Our Legend (59 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, Hyun Bin, Kim Min-joon, Lee Shi-un, Seo Do-young, Wang Ji-hye

Before the drama Friend, Our Legend even gets off the ground, announcements have been made for a musical version in the works. There’s even a new word to describe the trend of movie-turned-musicals (e.g., 200 Pound Beauty, On Air): the somewhat ungainly term “moviecal.”

A representative from Friend’s production company said, “We haven’t made concrete plans yet, but it’s true we are in talks to produce the musical.” Although technically this adaptation would be based on the original film, considering that the movie was released in 2001 and the drama version is set to come out this month, they must be riding on the anticipated popularity of the Hyun Bin-led miniseries. (What happens if it flops?)

Meanwhile 20-episode television drama has been produced in its entirety prior to its first broadcast, which will be this weekend, June 27.

Via Sports Khan

RELATED POSTS

• Press conference day for Friend, Our Legend
• Hyun Bin and Kim Min-joon are friends again
• Shoots nearing completion for Friend
• Auditions for Friend pick up steam

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, musicals

MBC’s much-awaited drama adaptation of the 2001 movie Friend, titled Friend, Our Legend [친구, 우리들의 전설], is set to premiere in a couple weeks, and the cast and crew held their drama production press conference on June 17 in Seoul.

The cast has some rather large shoes to fill, and none more so than Hyun Bin (The World They Live In), who takes the role originally played by Jang Dong-gun in the film that broke box office records at the time. Kim Min-joon (Tazza), Seo Do-young (Unstoppable Wedding), and Lee Shi-un fill out the quartet of friends.

(...)
Read the rest of Press conference day for Friend, Our Legend (334 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, Hyun Bin, Kim Min-joon, Lee Shi-un, press conferences, Seo Do-young, Wang Ji-hye

(Cute.)

With baseball drama Strike Love winding down on MBC, its replacement series is getting ready to air: Friend, Our Legend [친구, 우리들의 전설], which is the television remake of the immensely successful 2001 film Friend.

The series stars Hyun Bin (The World They Live In) and Kim Min-joon (Tazza) as Dong-soo and Jun-seok, respectively. The roles were originated in the film by Jang Dong-gun and Yoo Oh-sung, who played the two leads in a group of four childhood friends.

This also marks the second time Hyun Bin and Kim Min-joon are acting together; their first experience was back in the 2004 drama Ireland, which went a long way to establishing their acting careers back before they were well-known.

(...)
Read the rest of Hyun Bin and Kim Min-joon are friends again (196 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 39 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Friend, Hyun Bin, Kim Min-joon, remakes