Korean Box Office Recovers To 70% Of Pre-Pandemic Business In 2023 H1; Quartet Of Local Films Could Boost Summer Further

Liz Shackleton
·3 min read

Korea’s box office reached 70% of pre-pandemic levels of revenue in the first half of 2023, according to data released by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Korean action film The Roundup: No Way Out was the highest-grossing film of the period – pulling in $82M from 10.68 million admissions – followed by two Japanese animated features, Suzume and The First Slam Dunk, and U.S. titles Avatar: The Way Of Water and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.

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Total box office for the period reached $475M (KRW607.8BN), equivalent to 72.5% of average box office during the January-June period in 2017-2019, before Covid-19 shuttered cinemas and played havoc with release schedules.

As in many other territories, the recovery was partly due to ticket price increases, as admissions totalled 58.39 million, which is only 57.8% of the pre-pandemic average in the same period during 2017-2019.

While the top-grossing film in the first half was Korean, local films achieved only 54% of their pre-pandemic average, with total revenues of $166M (KRW212.2BN). Recovery was even slower in admissions terms, with Korean movies pulling in 21.05 million viewers, only 44% of comparable figures for 2017-2019.

As a result, Korean films accounted for just 34.9% of total box office and 36% of admissions, a significant drop from pre-pandemic days when local movies usually had a more than 50% market share.

Meanwhile, foreign films grossed a combined $311M (KRW395.6BN), equivalent to 88.7% of average box office revenue from 2017-2019. Combined admissions for non-Korean movies reached 37.34 million, around 70% of of comparable figures for 2017-2019.

Japanese films saw the biggest increases, grossing a combined $103M (KRW131.5BN) from 12.68 million admissions, with KOFIC hailing both figures as all-time highs since it started tracking box office share by nationality.

While their releases were too late to impact first half figures, U.S. studio titles Elemental and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One are currently both tracking well in Korea, grossing $40.8M and $25.5M respectively. Barbie has made less of an impression, opening fourth and taking just $1.91M over its opening five days. Oppenheimer opens on August 15.

Hopes Pinned On Four Big Local Releases

While Avatar and Japanese anime started heating up the market in early 2023, the KOFIC report noted that recovery for local films only started with Don Lee action pic The Roundup: No Way Out in May. Korean producers have a large backlog of titles, but have been holding back on their most expensive bets until market recovery looked more solid.

Now four big titles are being rolled out in rapid succession, starting with Ryoo Seung-wan’s Smugglers, which opened yesterday. Produced by N.E.W. and featuring a hot ensemble cast, the story of a group of female smugglers pulled in $2.9M from 359,272 admission on its first day.

Next up are CJ ENM’s sci-fi epic The Moon and Showbox’s action drama Ransomed, both opening on August 2.

Directed by Kim Yong-hwa (Along With The Gods), The Moon stars pop idol Do Kyung-soo (boy band EXO) as an astronaut who gets stranded in space. Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Hee-ae also star.

Based on true events, Ransomed is directed by Kim Seong-hun (Kingdom) and stars Ha Jung-woo (Narco-Saints) as a diplomat attempting to rescue an abducted colleague with the help of a taxi driver, played by Kingdom star Ju Ji-hoon.

August 9 sees the release of Lotte Entertainment’s disaster movie Concrete Utopia, an adaptation of a hit webtoon directed by Um Tae-hwa and starring Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young. The film is set for a Gala Presentation at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

In addition, Ryoo Seung-wan’s Smugglers will screen in Toronto as a Special Presentation.

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