○ The re-released film was promoted as a niche Korean independent and art film, receiving favorable reviews such as ‘Because I Hate Korea’ and ‘Jangson’.
□ Chuseok theaters with no competition, ‘Veteran 2’ was the highest-grossing Chuseok release of all time
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In September 2024, the total sales of theaters were 100.1 billion won and the number of audiences was 10.11 million, which was more than double that of the same month of the previous year. Among these, the sales of Korean films were 81 billion won and the number of viewers was 8.12 million, with the market share of Korean films exceeding 80% for the first time this year. This is the highest record of the year for Korean films from January to September of this year. Korean film sales increased by 77.7% and the number of audiences increased by 73.9% compared to the same month last year.
The top box office hit in September was director Ryu Seung-wan’s Korean blockbuster ‘Veteran 2’. ‘Veteran 2’, which was released on September 13th (Friday), the day before the Chuseok holiday, earned KRW 62.5 billion in sales (6.49 million viewers) in a little over two weeks, not only being the top box office hit in September, but also among the best Chuseok releases of all time. It recorded the highest box office performance. However, given that there was no significant competition, the success of ‘Veteran 2’ was somewhat predictable. Unlike last year, when Korean films targeting the Chuseok holiday such as ‘Dr. It was a hit at Chuseok theaters and recorded a screen share of 71.0% as of the release date. While there were no various Korean films released, it seems that the majority of screens were focused on the number one work.
□ Slight decrease in cumulative sales from January to September due to sluggish foreign currency ‥ Different from last year when there were many mega hits
In September, foreign film sales were 19.1 billion won and the number of viewers was 1.98 million, a decrease of more than 56% compared to the previous month. Among the foreign films in September, including ‘Alien: Romulus’, the number one foreign film in September, there were no films with sales exceeding 5 billion won and the number of viewers exceeding 500,000. Foreign films have continued to slump since June, when ‘Inside Out 2’ was released, and as of September, only ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘Wonka’ had exceeded 30 billion won in sales and 3 million viewers. This is a different situation from the same period last year, when various mega-hit foreign films such as ‘Elemental’ (2023), ‘Suzume’s Lockdown (2023)’ and ‘The First Slam Dunk (2023)’ were released. As a result, the cumulative sales and cumulative number of audiences of foreign films also decreased by more than 30% compared to the same period last year.
Total cumulative sales from January to September, including both foreign and Korean films, amounted to 942.4 billion won, a 1.5% decrease compared to the same period last year. The cumulative number of viewers was 96.85 million, a slight increase of about 3.1% compared to last year, and the reason for the decrease in sales compared to the number of viewers can be attributed to the weakness of foreign films driven by special screenings. This is because special screenings with relatively high ticket prices affect the size of sales, and in the same period last year, in addition to the mega hits mentioned above, special screenings such as ‘Avatar: Waterways’ (2022) and ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023) were important marketing points. There was a lot of foreign currency.
□ ‘Lim Young-woong’ is the 1st live performance of all time, ‘Hachuping’ is the 2nd Korean animation of all time‥ New records are created
As the number of live performance films has increased since the pandemic, the live performance film ‘Lim Young-woong │I’m Hero the Stadium’, which features singer Lim Young-woong’s concert, has set a new record. As of September, it had accumulated sales of 8.7 billion won (cumulative audience number of 310,000), making it the highest grossing performance movie of all time. The reason why sales were so high compared to the number of viewers was because of special screenings. Due to the nature of live performance films, they are specialized for special screenings, and the proportion of IMAX and Screen Ticket prices for special screenings are higher than regular screenings and additional price benefits such as telecommunication company discounts cannot be received, so even though the average admission price for the film was 28,108 won, a cumulative audience of 310,000 people visited the theater. It is said that the film’s plan for targeting a certain fandom was accurately planned. In addition, while the existing live performance movies were centered on young audiences in their 10s to 30s, ‘Lim Young-woong│I’m Hero the Stadium’ has a high proportion of audiences in their 50s or older, which appears to be an example of the expansion of the audience using the special theater to the middle-aged.
‘Hachuping of Love’ ranked 2nd among the most successful Korean animations of all time, with cumulative sales of 10.3 billion won (cumulative audience number of 1.15 million) as of September. It has been 12 years since ‘Spotted: Dinosaurs of the Korean Peninsula 3D’ (2012), which held the second place, for a Korean animation to exceed one million viewers. ‘Hachuping with Love’ broke the box office record of the previous 2nd place film (sales of 9.7 billion won, number of viewers 1.05 million) around mid-September. Since it is a film with a high proportion of viewers accompanied by children, it can also be seen as one of the examples showing that the number of family-based audiences has increased since the pandemic.
□ Re-released work promoted as a niche Korean independent and art film… received favorable reviews such as ‘Because I Hate Korea’ and ‘Jangson’.
The top independent and art film box office hit in September was the Chinese youth romance film ‘You as a Boy’ (2020), which was released four years ago, with sales of 1,453.42 million won (149,122 viewers) in the month of September. ‘Begin Again’ (2014), a movie from 10 years ago, was re-released on the last day of the Chuseok holiday and recorded sales of 1,435.39 million won (152,602 viewers). The two re-released films secured a fairly high number of screens, 252 and 213, respectively.
Among these re-released films, encouraging evaluations of well-made Korean independent and art films stood out, and Korean independent and art films rose from 3rd to 6th place. After the first half of the year, when film festival award-winning films were successful, entering the fall season, Korean feature films that captivated both critics and the public, such as ‘Because I Hate Korea’, ‘Eldest Son’, ‘To Her’, and ‘About My Daughter’, stood out.
Director Jang Geon-jae’s ‘Because I Hate Korea’, a graduate of the Korean Film Academy established by the Korean Film Council, did well, with cumulative sales of 5269.78 million won (cumulative audience number of 61,209) as of September. It was the highest box office hit for an art film. Likewise, ‘The Jangson’, directed by Oh Jeong-min, a graduate of the Korean Film Academy, received praise from critics, winning three awards at the 28th Busan International Film Festival, and received great reviews from audiences for its outstanding quality and fun. It ranked 4th with sales of 186.87 million won (20,130 audiences).
