This year’s Chuseok Holiday lasted for an unusually long 10 days, resulting in an exponential growth of the domestic film market in October. According to the Korean Film Council’s (KOFIC) “October 2017 Korean Film Industry Report”, there were a total of 21.6 million ticket buyers in all of October, which is an increase of 25.8% from the same time last year. Sales recorded 174.8 million dollars, also an increase of 24.2% from the year before.

Big titles were released in early October to take advantage of the holiday rush. Kicking off with THE OUTLAWS, this holiday season was a sure win for the domestic line-up. According to KOFIC, Korean films managed a market share of 60.1%, leaving the remaining 39.9% to foreign films. In fact, six out of the top ten selling films at the box office were local titles with The OUTLAWS (5.96 million tickets) landing in first place, and The Fortress (3.82 million) in second. Of the four foreign titles in the top ten, three were American films including Thor: Ragnarok (2.51 million), and one British film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle (3.21 million). KOFIC also noted that CJ E&M, which distributed The Fortress as well as 6 other strong performing titles, was the lead distributor. In October alone, films that CJ E&M distributed attracted 3.99 million moviegoers, for a market share of 18.5%.