Zombie blockbuster 'Peninsula' breaks even

By Dong Sun-hwa

Korean Zombie blockbuster “Peninsula” broke even on Saturday, the 11th day of its run.

The film has had an accumulated 2.65 million audience nationwide as of Saturday, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Sunday.

Given that the production cost for “Peninsula” was around 19 billion won ($15.8 million,) the movie initially needed an audience of about 5.3 million to break even. But this dropped to 2.5 million after the blockbuster was sold to 185 countries ― including Thailand, Japan, France and Russia ― ahead of its release.

In Korea, the movie has been topping the box office for 11 days since its premiere. It also set the highest first-day number (350,000 viewers) this year and became the first movie to draw more than two million theatergoers since Feb. 23, when the Korean government raised its alert level against the COVID-19 to “highest.”

“Peninsula,” starring Gang Dong-won and Lee Jung-hyun, is the sequel to the 2016 smash-hit zombie flick “Train to Busan.”

The post-apocalyptic movie revolves around the survivors on the zombie-hit Korean peninsula. Gang plays Jung-suk, who returns to the peninsula for a mission.

Yeon Sang-ho directed both films.