PAWN Dominates Chuseok Holiday Weekend

Thanks to the Chuseok holidays, the Korean box office came roaring back to life in early October. Business shot up 150% from last week’s session, which had already started to show signs of recovery after the late summer COVID spike with a 30% rise from the pre...

DETECTIVE K Unearths Pre-Lunar New Year Win

Admissions Down Ahead of Holiday Surge A local period film timed for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday led the chart as Korean films made up 70% of sales at the box office, while the calm before the holiday storm amounted to a quiet weekend with just 1.64 mi...

Battle of December, Three-Way Showdown

With a few presumed hits coming up short and lower-than-usual attendance at some points of the year, particularly early summer, a lot was banking on December to pick up the slack and close the year on a high note. The end-of-year period (late December and earl...

THE MAZE RUNNER Finds Way to Top of the Charts

Last year’s end-of-year titans finally relinquished their hold on the top of the chart to make way for new releases as a Hollywood film topped the rankings for the first time since Justice League in late November. It was also the first time Korea fell short of...

Box Office Report for the first quarter of 2017

The first quarter of 2017 was one of few surprises at the Korean box office but one which demonstrated the industry’s stability, both as a global exhibition market and a local production industry. Though not quite reaching the highs of 2013 (55.47 million) or ...

CONFIDENTIAL ASSIGNMENT Knocks Down THE KING

Fortunes changed at the box office as the two major local releases for the Lunar New Year switched places over the holiday. 4.19 million viewers bought tickets over the weekend, with 1.39 million of those selling on Lunar New Year day, which fell on Saturday. ...

A VIOLENT PROSECUTOR Scores Best-Ever Lunar New Year Launch

Star Power Drives Thriller to 2nd All Time Opening Week After a slow January, viewers once again packed into theatres over the 5-day Lunar New Year weekend, purchasing 3.16 million tickets, 77% of which for local titles. While the figure was 50% higher than t...

THE HIMALAYAS Reigns Over New Year

The New Year holiday kept crowds in theaters, with attendance dropping a slight 14% from the Christmas weekend as The Himalayas continued to dominate the charts. 60% of the 3.96 million tickets sold over the frame were bought for local films. For the third ti...

THE HIMALAYAS Climbs All Over STAR WARS in Debut

The hotly anticipated new Star Wars, or Episode VII: The Force Awakens, was a global phenomenon this weekend, setting weekend records in the US, UK, Germany and Russia, among others, and powering to a USD 517 million bow worldwide, which is second all time beh...

THE INTERN Promoted in 2nd Weekend

Business saw a predictable drop last weekend in the wake of the Chuseok holidays yet 2.05 million viewers still found their way to theaters as local fare maintained a slight edge with a 50% share of the market. Following a decent debut, word of mouth has clea...