Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Box Office: annual ticket sales break record with over 224 mill
The local box office recorded the highest annual ticket sales in history with over 224.6 million as of Saturday. Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
'Extreme Job,' Disney movies attract viewers to movie houses
By Lee Gyu-lee
The local box office scored record-breaking ticket sales of all time this year in Korean cinema history, grossing 224.6 million sales as of Saturday, according to the Korean Film Council. This surpassed the previous record in 2017 by about 5 million.
Annual ticket sales have hovered around 210 million for the past six years since first surpassing 200 million in 2013, gaining a foothold as one of the largest film markets in Asia.
This year five films, a new record, exceeded 10 million ticket sales, which became the mark of success since military blockbuster “Silmido” (2003) became the first film locally with massive ticket sales.
Two film distributing powerhouses CJ ENM and Walt Disney Company were neck and neck on the films with over 10 million sales. CJ ENM scored two ― “Extreme Job” and “Parasite” ― and Walt Disney counted three ― “Avengers: Endgame,” “Frozen 2,” and “Aladdin.”
Among the list, the comedy film “Extreme Job” ― released on Jan. 23 ― scored highest and became the second-most watched film of all time. The 6.5 billion won ($5.6 million) budget film grossed 139 billion won ($120 million) with 16 million tickets sold. This success came as a surprise, considering its screening coincided with several big-budget films released around the same time, including “Hit-and-Run Squad,” and “Alita: Battle Angel.”
Having an exceedingly prosperous year with record revenue in the global box office, the Walt Disney Company has seen the year out with “Frozen 2” a worldwide sensation, including Korea. As of Sunday, the Frozen sequel has attracted over 11 million ticket sales and is increasing as the film is still competing on the local box office chart. The film took the fourth spot on the weekend chart.
Posters for “Ashfall,” from left, “Forbidden Dream,” and “Start-Up” which scored top three on the weekend local box office respectively. Courtesy of CJ ENM, Lotte Entertainment, and NEW
Local films ― “Ashfall,” “Forbidden Dream,” and “Start-Up” ― won the top three spots in the local box office for the last weekend of the year.
The big-budget, disaster blockbuster “Ashfall” stormed to the top since it premiered Dec. 19, drawing over 5.7 million ticket sales.
The palm-sweating flick whetted the moviegoers' appetite before its premiere with the star-studded cast of Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok and Bae Suzy.
The story follows the bomb squad captain Jo In-chang (Ha) who goes to stop an imminent eruption of volcanic Mount Paektu, located along the North Korea-China border. As a double agent, North Korean Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee) is dragged into the action to help find North Korea's nuclear explosive that is to be used to stop the catastrophe.
The duo of veteran actors Han Suk-kyu and Choi Min-sik in “Forbidden Dream” won the second place on weekend box office, seeing 700,000 ticket sales since its Dec. 26 release.
Based on the historical figures King Sejong (1397-1450) of the Joseon Dynasty and inventor Jang Yeong-sil, the film is about King Sejong (Han) and genius inventor (Choi) forming an unusual friendship as they work together to make Joseon-era Korea technologically independent from the Chinese empire.
Another film starring Ma, “Start-Up,” landed itself third in the weekend box office sales, attracting about 2.3 million ticket sales since it hit local theaters on Dec. 18.
Based on the webcomic series of the same name, the comedy film revolves around a rebellious teenager Taek-il (Park Jung-min) who runs away from home after having a dispute with his mom (Yum Jung-ah). After wandering around looking for a place to stay, he gets a job as a delivery boy at a Chinese restaurant where he meets a mysterious odd-looking chef (Ma).