Glenn Parizot sent us the following report from Korea:

I'm from Houston, Texas. My family and I recently took a three week vacation in Korea, staying primarily in Seoul (my wife Hye-Joung is Korean. I've lived in and have been in Seoul many times now). One aspect timing the vacation for me was being able to see "Star Wars - Episode I" in the US before I went on vacation. I didn't want to have to wait three weeks while everyone else got a chance to see it. Never fear, I saw it twice before we left. While in Seoul, however, it occurred to me that maybe the movie was playing there as well. During one of our countless shopping outings, this time to the enormous Lotte World Shopping Plaza in Chamshil (near the1988 Olympic site), we went to the Lotte World Cinema, to see that, yes, the movie was coming, but on June 26th. There were two promotional items on display - the large banner with Anakin walking on Tattooine casting Darth Vader's shadow (seen in US theaters at Christmas time), and a Hangul (Korean language) teaser movie poster, the same picture as the one in thestates. I can't speak too much Korean, so I asked my wife to ask the theater owner how I could get one of the posters (I had previously gotten a "Back to the Future III" poster at this very spot in 1990, so I figured my chances were good). The manager said he had no extras, but come back closer to when the movie opened, he'd be sure tohave some by then. We then left, enjoying our vacation around the country. But I hadn't forgotten. Last Saturday (June 12th), we were back at Lotte World, and we tried again. My wife talked to the woman standing at the door to the theater, and I only got the translation afterwards:

My wife: Can we get a copy of the movie poster? We're willing to pay for it.

Theater worker: We don't have any extras

wife: C'mon, you must have a few!

worker: We'll be giving them out when the movie opens, why don't you just come back later?

wife: Yeah, but we'll be back in the States by then. My husband really wants one.

worker: Why? It's in Korean!

wife: Yeah, that's why he wants it.

worker: But he can't understand it.

wife: Look, my husband is a Star Wars nut. We own all the videos. He has posters for all the other movies. He already has seen "Episode I" two times. Please humor him.

The worker then called the theater manager on the phone, and he showed up, recognizing us from about a week before. After some more pleading, he went away, and then brought me a rolled up copy, gratis. Not a bad deal. After a round of "kamsahamnidas" (thank you), I had my prize. It's already framed and hanging in my study back home. While in the same shopping mall, we also noticed that Pepsi was setting up a booth to promote their drink and the movie. The had several interesting handouts. We helped ourselves to several copies. This sort of promotional material is typical. I passed on the "Entrapment" handouts and postcards at the theater entrance, as none of them featured Catherine Zeta Jones. The hype for Star Wars had just started about a week after I arrived (we were in Seoul from May 29 - June 17), with large ads placed on thesides of city buses. There were also ads in the subway stations. This is atypical way to advertise a movie in Seoul. I remember seeing a headline on Theforce.net about the "One" advertising campaign, but I never read the details. Maybe the same campaign was used in Seoul. Anyway, here are the ads I saw. Each one had a picture of one character from the movie, along with the English language "one" phrase below. The rest of the ad was in Hangul, only saying "Star Wars - Episode I":

Amidala - One love, one quest
Watto - One businessman, one gamble
Mace Windu - One dream, one skeptic
Anakin - One hero, one destiny
Jar Jar - One clown, one friend
Obi-Wan - One choice, one force
Battle Droid - One mission, one mind

I didn't see any ads for any other characters, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. I also saw a couple of TV commercials, but they were pretty standard fare, similar to the trailer shots in the US. Hye-Joung tells me that the Korean title for the movie translates to something like "The Hidden Danger". Close enough, I'd say.

I did happen to have one dinner conversation with a friend of my wife's while there, centering on US pop culture, which lead to a discussion about Star Wars. He wanted to know what the big deal was. He had seen the first three films, and planned to see the new one, but wondered why Americans seemed so crazy about them. I told him I couldn't explain it, but we are. Maybe it's cultural. It was a funny conversation.

I saw at least three theaters were set to show the movie - Lotte World (a very nice theater, I've been there several times), another one on the way to downtown Seoul from the south, and one near Insa-dong. I'm sure there are others. American movies are typically only subtitled, not translated. Seoul theaters have assigned seating. Tickets for hot movies are scalped for maybe $15-$20. I remember I paid a lot to see "Pretty Woman" a few years back. (it was well worth it, my date is now my wife)

Young-one-han-him! (best we could come up with for a Korean translation of "May the Force be with you")

Thanks Glen! He sent us scans of a couple of the flyers and postcards! You can view them at the links below. They make GREAT wallpaper backgrounds, so I left them large for ya. (Some might need touching up as my scanner sucks.)

Darth Maul postcard - COOL!
Anakin Postcard
Twi'lek girl postcard - EXCELLENT wallpaper!!
Flyer front
Flyer back