Taiwanese’s You Are The Apple of My Eye Adapted into a Korean Movie; New Trailer Wins Fans

Do you remember the hit Taiwanese movie You Are the Apple of My Eye?

The 2011 movie, which is adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years by Giddens Ko, starred Kai Ko and Michelle Chen, and was a large success: The coming-of-age romance film has a budget of about US$1.7 million, and earned a whopping US$24.5 million, setting box-office records in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

With such success, it’s no surprise that it’s now being adapted into a K-movie.

Taiwanese’s You Are The Apple of My Eye Adapted into a Korean Movie; New Trailer Wins Fans

It might take over 10 years, but it’s finally happening.

The movie was being sold internationally by K-Movie Entertainment and was introduced to buyers at the 2023 Cannes Film Market.

In June 2024, it was announced that the Korean remake of You Are the Apple of My Eye will star Jung Jin-young and TWICE’s Dahyun in the lead roles.

Jung Jin-young, a former member of the boy group B1A4, will play Jin-woo, the Korean version of the male lead Ko Ching-teng from the original film.

Dahyun, a member of the K-pop girl group TWICE, will portray Sun-ah, the Korean counterpart to the original female lead Shen Chia-yi.

The film marks the feature directorial debut of Cho Young-myoung. It is being produced by Studio Take, with Song Dae-chan (producer of Broker) as the producer.

Similarly, the story follows the original, centering on a group of high school friends who all have a crush on the same popular girl, Sun-ah. Jin-woo initially claims not to have feelings for her but ends up falling for her as well.

Interestingly, on 4 July, original actor Kai Ko recently met up with Dahyun and Jung Jin-young in Korea.

On 3 September, the official trailer for the movie was released, and it has won praises, with many fans looking forward to Dahyun’s debut movie:

Not The First Adaption

This, however, isn’t the first adaption of You Are the Apple of My Eye.

In 2018, a Japanese version of the film, starring Yuki Yamada and Asuka Saito, was released.

Reviews for that film has been mixed.

On IMDb, user reviews call it “confusing” and “a waste of 2 hours”, recommending viewers just watch the Taiwanese original instead. The remake has a 6.1/10 rating on IMDb.

A more positive review praised it as “delightful, delicate and bittersweet”, a perfect blend of the highs and lows of teen first love. However, it noted the Japanese version takes a subtler, less melodramatic approach than the original