196,880 viewers on opening day… #1 in box office, beating ‘Wicked’
‘Inside Out 2’ exceeds ‘Frozen’ opening score, expectations for box office success
Still from the movie ‘Moana’ 2. / Provided by Walt Disney Korea Moana, the chief of Motunui, returned with a sequel after 8 years and took over the winter theater district. Disney animation ‘Moana 2’ entered the box office race, attracting more than 190,000 viewers on the day of release despite heavy snow.
According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network for movie theater admissions on the 28th, 196,880 people viewed ‘Moana 2’ the day before its release date. Sales amounted to 1.553 billion won, accounting for 53.6% of total theater sales the previous day.
It beat all prominent competitors such as ‘Wicked’, ‘Hidden Face’, and ‘Gladiator 2’, which were popular movies in theaters in November. Of all the films screened on this day, ‘Moana 2’ was the only one to exceed 100,000 viewers. ‘Wicked’, which had been at the top of the box office for the past week, fell to second place with 62,000 viewers, while ‘Hidden Face’ and ‘Gladiator 2’ only attracted 45,000 and 20,000 viewers, respectively.
Even in a situation where travel was difficult due to heavy snowfall across the country, it showed the ability to mobilize close to 200,000 weekday audiences. The film industry’s analysis is that the fact that it recorded an ‘opening score’ of 84,797, which is more than twice that of the previous film ‘Moana’ when it was released eight years ago, is also a significant achievement.
Although it is a bit early, there is a possibility that ‘Moana 2’ may become the highest-grossing theatrical animation of the year. It surpassed the opening score of ‘Inside Out 2’ (194,831 viewers), which was released in June and recorded 8.79 million viewers, and even surpassed the record of ‘Frozen’ (160,592 viewers), which is famous for being the ’10 million animation film’ in Korea. Because it has been surpassed. As of noon on this day, the reservation rate was also ranked first at 38%. A Walt Disney Korea official explained, “We have been ranked first in the overall reservation rate for four consecutive days since last Sunday.”
‘Moana 2’ depicts the adventure story of Moana, who has been called by her ancestors, and sets off to break the curse of a hidden ancient island with the legendary hero Maui in order to prevent the destruction of her tribe. In addition to the rich storytelling typical of Disney animation, it received attention for being the story of a third-world female hero who broke the typical ‘princess cliche’. There are high expectations for a sequel to the previous work, which was recognized for its quality and recorded 2.31 million viewers, and the news that a Korean animator participated in overall production, including character design, is gaining popularity through word of mouth.
However, with the end of the year approaching, a series of Korean films that had been delayed due to COVID-19 will be released, which may put a damper on the dominance of ‘Moana 2’. According to the film industry, the volleyball movie ‘1 Win’ starring actors Song Kang-ho and Jo Jung-seok will be released on the 4th of next month. ‘Big Family’, a family comedy in which actor Kim Yun-seok bickers with his son (Lee Seung-gi), who has become a monk, will be released on December 11, and the action film ‘Bogota: Land of the Last Chance’, starring Song Joong-ki, will be released on December 31.
Reporter Seungmok Yoo
