It has become something of a common practice to fill blockbuster movies with foreign stars in bit roles in order to make selling these movies in international markets easier. I guess it’s the inevitable effect of the rising importance of the foreign box office.

These Korean posters are a good example of how that strategy works. They are very similar to the posters from last week, but feature Asian stars Rain and Hiroyuki Sanada. We are not likely to see an occidental version of these new posters because neither of the actors is well known around here, and the actual characters are too minor to warrant that kind of treatment. And even if we do get an English version it will not be a core part of the marketing in the way that the previous posters will.

But in Korea these names mean something (I think, certainly Rain). And, beyond being happy that local stars are included in the movie, the audience there will probably also be pleased to see that the studio has taken the time to cater to them specifically.

Actually seeing the film might be a disappointment if the roles for these actors are really small. But I guess that is not considered much of a problem.

(Via IMPAwards and MaxMovie)