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Director Ryoo Seung-wan's crime action thriller Smugglers has topped 5 million admissions, becoming the highest-grossing blockbuster released this summer, industry data said Wednesday.

Smugglers surpassed the milestone on the 36th day since it hit local screens on July 26, according to the data compiled by the Korean Film Council. It is the fourth movie that has attracted over 5 million moviegoers this year, including Korean action comedy The Roundup: No Way Out (10.68 million), Pixar's animation Elemental (7.05 million) and Japanese animation Suzume (5.54 million).

Among the four highly-anticipated big-budget Korean films, Smugglers posted the best performance, followed by Korean disaster thriller Concrete Utopia, which had drawn 3.37 million admissions since its release on Aug. 9. 

Two other Korean films released this summer posted relatively lackluster performances. Director Kim Seong-hoon's buddy action comedy Ransomed and director Kim Yong-hwa's sci-fi film The Moon garnered a cumulative 1.05 million admissions and 510,000 admissions, respectively.

Set in the 1970s in a peaceful seaside village, Smugglers revolves around two female divers, played by Kim Hye-soo and Yum Jung-ah, who are unexpectedly tangled up in a high-stakes smuggling scheme.

Its intriguing crime plot, dynamic action scenes and good ensemble of veteran actresses received positive reviews from audiences and critics.

A scene from Ryoo Seung-wan's crime action thriller Smugglers is seen in this photo provided by its distributor NEW. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) 

By Kim Eun-jung