{ "id": "ephbbvzx5n", "slug": "tidal-wave", "title": "Tidal Wave (해운대)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.disaster-films", "label": "Disaster films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.disaster-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Tidal Wave (해운대, Haeundae) is a 2009 South Korean disaster film by Yoon Je-kyoon in which a mega-tsunami hits Busan's Haeundae beach; it drew 11.3 million admissions, the first Korean film past ten million since The Host.", "snippet": "Tidal Wave (해운대, Haeundae) is a 2009 South Korean disaster film by Yoon Je-kyoon in which a mega-tsunami hits Busan's Haeundae beach; it drew 11.3 million admissions, the first Korean film past ten million since The Host.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.disaster-films", "markdown": "# Tidal Wave (해운대)\n\n**Tidal Wave** (해운대, *Haeundae*) is a 2009 South Korean disaster film directed and co-written by Yoon Je-kyoon, in which a mega-tsunami strikes the Haeundae beach district of Busan. It was the first full-scale, big-budget disaster film produced in South Korea, and with 11,325,099 admissions it became the first Korean film to pass the ten-million-admission mark since Bong Joon-ho's *[The Host](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-host-2006-film)* (2006).[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074) • [2](https://korea.koreanfilm.org/feff.html) The film stars Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won, Park Joong-hoon, and [Uhm Jung-hwa](https://www.edgepedia.org/uhm-jung-hwa).[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title / international title | 해운대 (*Haeundae*), released abroad as *Tidal Wave*[3](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/tidal-wave-334952/) |\n| Release | July 22, 2009, South Korea; 129-minute director's cut, 107-minute international version[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074) • [3](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/tidal-wave-334952/) |\n| Director / writers | Yoon Je-kyoon (윤제균), director and co-screenwriter[4](https://www.cjenm.com/ko/featured-contents/%ED%95%B4%EC%9A%B4%EB%8C%80/) |\n| Cast | Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won, Park Joong-hoon, Uhm Jung-hwa, Lee Min-ki, Kang Ye-won[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074) • [5](https://asianfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/haeundae-2009/) |\n| Box office | 11,325,099 admissions on 764 screens; total gross $59,209,782[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074) |\n| Budget | 13 billion won (about $10.6 million), much of it spent on computer-generated graphics[6](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/a-disaster-film-five-years-in-the-making/11156403) |\n| Awards | 46th Paeksang Arts Awards Grand Prize (film); 30th Blue Dragon Awards technical award and most-attended-film award; 46th Daejong Film Awards Best Planning[4](https://www.cjenm.com/ko/featured-contents/%ED%95%B4%EC%9A%B4%EB%8C%80/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set on Haeundae beach in Busan, a vacation spot on the southeast coast that draws about one million visitors to its beaches every year. Kim Hwi (Park Joong-hoon), a marine geologist who studies tsunamis, observes signs in the East Sea similar to those recorded in the Indian Ocean just before the 2004 tsunami. He repeatedly warns the Disaster Prevention Agency, which dismisses the danger and affirms that Korea faces no threat. A mega-tsunami is nevertheless generated and heads for the crowded summer beach; in the film's climax, Kim receives word of the oncoming wave with only ten minutes to spare, the wave traveling at 500 miles per hour.[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074)\n\nThe human story runs parallel to the warning. Man-sik (Sul Kyung-gu), a Haeundae native, lost a co-worker to a tsunami during a deep-sea fishing trip four years earlier and has not been to sea since; he runs a small seafood restaurant and is preparing to propose to his longtime girlfriend Yeon-hee ([Ha Ji-won](https://www.edgepedia.org/ha-ji-won)). Man-sik's younger brother Hyung-sik ([Lee Min-ki](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-min-ki)) works as a coast guard and rescues a college student from Seoul. Kim's estranged ex-wife, organizing a cultural event in Haeundae, and their young daughter, who does not know he is her father, are also drawn to the coast as the wave approaches.[1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074)\n\n## Production\n\nYoon Je-kyoon, previously known for comedies such as *Sex Is Zero* (2002) and *Miracle on 1st Street*, spent five years producing the film and nearly two years writing the script. He has said his inspiration was the 2004 South Asian tsunami, which killed thousands in Southeast Asia, and that he wanted to make something different from standard Hollywood disaster fare.[7](https://www.scmp.com/article/698149/haeundae-dvd) • [2](https://korea.koreanfilm.org/feff.html)\n\n**Visual effects.** The computer graphics, a large part of the 13 billion won budget, were produced with the Korean CG company Mopek working with Hans Uhlig, the CG supervisor on Hollywood films including *The Day After Tomorrow* and *The Perfect Storm*.[6](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/a-disaster-film-five-years-in-the-making/11156403) The special-effects sequences were supervised by Uhlig, and the film was presold to the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, and 19 other countries before its domestic release.[8](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/features.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=FEATURES_VIEW&seq=182) Reviewers judged the results uneven: the *South China Morning Post* called the computer graphics less impressive than Hollywood blockbusters given a budget that was only a fraction of a typical Hollywood film, while the JoongAng Daily attributed the film's success partly to its advanced graphics.[7](https://www.scmp.com/article/698149/haeundae-dvd) • [6](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/a-disaster-film-five-years-in-the-making/11156403)\n\n## Box office and reception\n\nReleased on July 22, 2009, the film sold upwards of 11.3 million tickets and became a nationwide phenomenon. It was the first film since *The Host* (2006) to pass the ten-million-admission level in Korea and ranked as the biggest hit to that date for its distributor, CJ Entertainment, Korea's largest.[2](https://korea.koreanfilm.org/feff.html) It was the biggest hit of the 2009 Korean box office, a year in which local cinema's market share rose to 48.8 percent from 42.1 percent the previous year.[2](https://korea.koreanfilm.org/feff.html)\n\nCritical response was mixed. The Korea Times wrote that the film rides on Korean clichés with disappointing computer graphics but evades some Hollywood conventions, noting that the scientist Kim is not a lone hero who saves the planet but one of a group of characters caught in the melodrama; the director described the film as \"not about a tsunami but ... a human story that includes a tsunami.\"[9](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/20090719/haeundae-manages-to-be-entertaining) The Busan International Film Festival archive reads the plot as a Koreanized transformation of Hollywood romantic narratives, comparing its linking of disaster and romance to *Titanic*.[10](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=14078&pyear=2009) Some Western reviewers were harsher: an SBS review criticized the decision to recreate specific images from the 2004 tsunami disaster, five years after the event.[11](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/haeundae-review/35qq8spnz) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 48 percent Tomatometer score.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/haeundae-tsunami)\n\n## Awards\n\nAt the 46th Paeksang Arts Awards in 2010 the film won the Grand Prize (Daesang) for film and a Best New Actor award; at the 30th Blue Dragon Awards it won the technical award and the audience award for Korea's most-attended film; and the 46th Daejong Film Awards gave it the Best Planning award. It was also invited to the panorama section of the 14th Busan International Film Festival and screened at festivals including Udine, CinemAsia, Sitges, and Stockholm.[4](https://www.cjenm.com/ko/featured-contents/%ED%95%B4%EC%9A%B4%EB%8C%80/) • [1](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film's success opened the Korean disaster genre. Commentators on Korean cinema date the real era of the domestic disaster film to 2009 with *Haeundae*, after which the industry produced several disaster titles a year, beginning with *Deranged* (2012), and later hits such as *Train to Busan* (2016) continued the lineage.[13](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/mobile4/jsp/News/FeaturesView.jsp?blbdComCd=601013&seq=328) • [14](https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2016/dec/11/kt.pdf) Director Yoon Je-kyoon followed it with *International Market* (국제시장), another ten-million-admission hit, making him one of Korea's commercially most successful directors.[15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=semoV8f_no0)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Haeundae (2009), Korean Film Council database](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090074)\n2. [Far East Film Festival essays: Korean cinema 2009](https://korea.koreanfilm.org/feff.html)\n3. [Tidal Wave (Haeundae), Répertoire des films classés, Québec](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/tidal-wave-334952/)\n4. [해운대, CJ ENM](https://www.cjenm.com/ko/featured-contents/%ED%95%B4%EC%9A%B4%EB%8C%80/)\n5. [Haeundae (2009), Asian Film Reviews](https://asianfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/haeundae-2009/)\n6. [A disaster film, five years in the making, The Korea JoongAng Daily](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/a-disaster-film-five-years-in-the-making/11156403)\n7. [Haeundae (DVD), South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/article/698149/haeundae-dvd)\n8. [HOT MOVIE/Haeundae, Korean Film Council feature](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/features.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=FEATURES_VIEW&seq=182)\n9. [Haeundae Manages to Be Entertaining, The Korea Times](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/20090719/haeundae-manages-to-be-entertaining)\n10. [Haeundae program note, 14th Busan International Film Festival](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=14078&pyear=2009)\n11. [Haeundae Review, SBS What's On](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/haeundae-review/35qq8spnz)\n12. [Haeundae, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/haeundae-tsunami)\n13. [The Rise of the Korean Disaster Drama, Korean Film Council](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/mobile4/jsp/News/FeaturesView.jsp?blbdComCd=601013&seq=328)\n14. [Korean disaster films, Kuwait Times (2016)](https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2016/dec/11/kt.pdf)\n15. [윤제균 감독 K팝 영화 제작, SBS 굿모닝연예](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=semoV8f_no0)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Disaster films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Tidal Wave (해운대)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Tidal Wave (해운대)](https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Tidal Wave (해운대)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tidal-wave. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Tidal Wave is a 2009 South Korean disaster film by Yoon Je-kyoon in which a mega-tsunami hits Busan's Haeundae beach; it drew 11.3 million admissions, the first Korean film past ten million since The Host." }