box office-monthly tally

The number of moviegoers surged in January, driven by the release of several hit films and an extended Lunar New Year holiday, data showed Thursday.

According to the Korea Film Council (KOFIC), total cinema attendance rose 46.8 percent on-year to 6.8 million, while sales increased 45.1 percent to 65.3 billion won (US$45.5 million).

KOFIC partly credited the growth to the success of the historical epic "Harbin," which drew 2.07 million moviegoers in January.

This image provided by CJ ENM shows a scene from the Korean historical film "Harbin."

Other Korean films, including the comedy-action "Hitman 2" and the supernatural thriller "Dark Nuns," also performed well, surpassing their break-even points. The films drew 1.65 million and 1.27 million, respectively, last month.

Meanwhile, foreign movies struggled, attracting just 2.11 million viewers and generating 20 billion won in sales, accounting for 23.4 percent of total seat occupancy. These figures marked declines of 32.5 percent and 32.6 percent, respectively, compared with the previous year. "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," which premiered on Jan. 1, attracted only 300,000 viewers throughout the month.

By Woo Jae-yeon