‘The Roundup 2’ exceeds 10 million viewers

Film ‘Roundup 2’ has become the first post-pandemic movie to exceed 10 million viewers. It is the first time in three years since ‘Parasite’ exceeded 10 million viewers in July 2019.

According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated electronic network that tracks sales of tickets, 10.17 million viewers saw the film as of June 11, the 25th day of the movie launched in cinema, becoming Korea’s 20th movie to exceed 10 million viewers. It would be the 28th when including foreign films.

Since Silmido became the first Korean movie to attract 10 million viewers in 2003, every year saw movies with 10 million viewers. In 2019, there were four 10 million view movies including Extreme Job. Parasite became the last 10 million view movie of that year and for a while when the film industry was hit by the pandemic.

Hollywood blockbuster ‘Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ which opened in theaters on May 4 in Korea, attracted 5.86 million viewers, paving the way for a comeback after the pandemic. ‘Roundup 2’ drove the wave, restoring the glory of the film industry. Last month, 14.55 million people visited theaters, the largest figure in 28 months since pre-pandemic in January 2020. The number of monthly viewers fell as low as 0.97 million in April 2020, with only 3.12 million in April this year.

Experts say that the film industry is set to thrive further as both Korean and foreign films are lined up to launch films that have been put on hold due to the pandemic.

On June 15, the sequel to the movie Witch, Witch 2, is scheduled to open. On June 22, Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick will hit the theaters, which is expected to attract an audience spanning wide age groups. Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave,” which won the best director award at Cannes, will also open on June 29. With the sequel to Myeong-nyang which topped the list of viewers at 17.62 million set to launch and titled Hansan: Emergence of the Dragon, followed by Alien, directed by Choi Dong-hoon who directed commercial hits The Thieves and the Assassination, lined up for launch, the movie theaters are set to open a new thriving chapter.


Hyo-Ju Son hjson@donga.com