Actor Song Joong Ki hasn't had a hit since remarrying... What's the problem?

Actor Song Joong Ki has struggled since his marriage, with consecutive box-office disasters. What is the problem?

　On the 7th January (today), the film Bogota: Land of Last Chance, starring Song Joong Ki, ranked third after Harbin and The Fireman, according to the Film Promotion Board's Integrated Computer Network of Cinema Admission Ticket Counts. With a total audience of 336,349, the film is facing a crisis, with the daily audience falling to the 10,000 mark. It is far from the break-even point of 3 million and is not expected to easily break the 500,000 mark.

　The film Bogota tells the story of Gook-ki (played by Song Joong-ki), who heads for Bogota, Colombia, on the other side of the world with new hopes immediately after the IMF (international financial crisis), when he meets Soo-yeon (played by Lee Hee-jung), a powerful figure in Korean society, and Captain Park (played by Kwon Hye-hyo).

　The film was shot on location in Colombia and experienced hardships during filming, including the suspension of filming due to the spread of a new type of coronavirus. In a radio appearance to promote the film, Song Joong Ki said "This film seems to be a bit bigger than Jean. We filmed it under difficult circumstances, but it's been five years since we started filming this film. We went to Colombia for ‘Bogota’ and filmed for a few months, but then we got corona and had to stop filming, and then we got together again and filmed it, and now we're finally releasing it", showing his special affection for the film.

　However, for all Song Joong-ki's sentiment, the film received only scathing reviews, with a CGV Egg Index of 79%, a Neighbour Real Audience Score of 7.04 and a Net User Score of 4.76. The overall reaction was that the content was choppy and the ending was too subtle.

　Song Joong Ki mainly plays the character of a smart and fresh young man in the drama and a tough and blunt character in the film, which is enhanced by his tough and blunt charm. However, these character outfits may not suit him: he gave a martial performance in the Netflix film Lo Kiwan, which was released in March 2024, but failed at the box office with only a score of 6 on the rating scale.

　Thus, Song Joong Ki has been on a path of consecutive box-office disasters since his marriage in January 2023. It is a pity that he has a busy schedule and is concentrating on the turnout for Bogota, but in the end, the part of the story that is talked about is about his wife Katie and their two children.

　Fortunately, his next project is the drama MY YOUTH. The drama is an emotional romantic drama about Song Woo-hae (played by Song Joong Ki), who started his ordinary life later than others, and Song Jae-young (played by Jung Woo-hee), who has to break the peace of her first love to achieve her own success. Since this is Song Joong Ki's speciality, it will be interesting to see if the drama can become a hit.