By Dong Sun-hwa
The family movie "Pawn" is leading the Korean box office.
The tear-evoking film, which premiered on Sept. 29, has been topping the box office since Sept. 30, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
It said the movie has attracted an audience of 1.3 million nationwide and more than 24,000 cinemagoers watched it on Wednesday. American biographical drama "Fonzo" and American thriller "Unhinged" sold 8,093 and 3,615 tickets, respectively, on the same day.
"Pawn" revolves around two debt collectors ― Doo-seok (Sung Dong-il) and Jong-bae (Kim Hee-won) ― who take nine-year-old girl Seung-yi (Park So-yi) as "collateral" from her mother, an illegal immigrant. The two men and the girl eventually form a family-like bond as they live together. Ha Ji-won plays the grown-up version of Seung-yi.
Meanwhile, theaters here are experiencing a sharp decline in patrons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the total number of theatergoers was only 1.3 million. For the same month last year, when there was no virus outbreak, the number was 11 million.
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| A poster for the family movie "Pawn." Courtesy of CJ Entertainment |
The tear-evoking film, which premiered on Sept. 29, has been topping the box office since Sept. 30, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
It said the movie has attracted an audience of 1.3 million nationwide and more than 24,000 cinemagoers watched it on Wednesday. American biographical drama "Fonzo" and American thriller "Unhinged" sold 8,093 and 3,615 tickets, respectively, on the same day.
"Pawn" revolves around two debt collectors ― Doo-seok (Sung Dong-il) and Jong-bae (Kim Hee-won) ― who take nine-year-old girl Seung-yi (Park So-yi) as "collateral" from her mother, an illegal immigrant. The two men and the girl eventually form a family-like bond as they live together. Ha Ji-won plays the grown-up version of Seung-yi.
Meanwhile, theaters here are experiencing a sharp decline in patrons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the total number of theatergoers was only 1.3 million. For the same month last year, when there was no virus outbreak, the number was 11 million.
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