Shin Hye-sun, drama ratings queen vs continuous movie failures “Will her upcoming movie achieve success?”
In dramas, she's considered an irreplaceable leading actress. However, in movies, not a single hit has been recorded. Shin Hye-sun, whose fifth leading film is about to be released, finds herself in this situation
Shin Hye-sun, who debuted in 2012, gained momentum in her career with her first leading role in the 2017 drama “My Golden Life”. Afterward, Shin Hye-sun solidified her position as a leading actress, witnessing a rise in public favor and landing various advertising deals.
Possessing stable acting skills, a unique tone, stable vocalization, a clean and sophisticated image and towering at over 170cm, Shin Hye-sun also had a broad range of roles to play. She threw herself into her roles with her entire body. She also effortlessly handled double roles and exhibited the power to lead the dramas with her delightful charm.
With several dramas achieving top ratings in their time slots and reaching a peak rating of 44.6% (according to Nielsen Korea), Shin Hye-sun received recognition for both viewership ratings and topicality. Since 2020, Shin Hye-sun has expanded her scope of activities by starring in movies.
However, the success Shin Hye-sun demonstrated in dramas did not translate to the big screen. Her 2020 movies “Innocence” and “Collectors” respectively attracted 890,000 viewers and 1.54 million viewers.
The box office results for movies released in 2023 were even more dismal. “Don’t Buy the Seller” attracted 420,000 viewers and “Brave Citizen” only reached 260,000 viewers. While it may not be fair to judge movie success solely by audience numbers, if a commercial film fails to reach even one-fifth of its break-even point, it’s hard to deny its failure.
While the success of a movie cannot solely depend on the capabilities of the lead actor, audience numbers significantly impact the actor’s future endeavors.
On April 17th, Shin Hye-sun attended the press conference of the movie “She Died”. Taking on the lead role alongside Byun Yo-han, Shin Hye-sun showed confidence in her first foray into the mystery tracking thriller genre since her debut.
What results will “She Died” bring for Shin Hye-sun? It’s intriguing to see whether Shin Hye-sun will transform into a “crowd-pulling actress” after overcoming her past works or remain as the “drama-exclusive actress” who struggles in the movie industry. Shin Hye-sun’s movie will be released in May.
