Edited by Yang Young Jun
Translated by Kim Hoyeun
After brave rookie directors re-opened the theaters in June, Korean blockbuster and comedy movies began to attract moviegoers in July and August. What results did the four new movies �” Peninsula, Steel Rain 2: Summit, Deliver Us From Evil, and Okay! Madam �” get (as of August 23)?
Peninsula (release date: 07.15.2020)
First weekend audience/Box Office: 1,225,472/KRW 11.063 Billion (about 9,330,282 USD)
Accumulated audience/Box Office: 3,803,946/KRW 33.019 Billion (about 27,847,472 USD)
Director Yeon Sang Ho’s new blockbuster Peninsula opened the summer theater. As a sequel to Train to Busan, which marked the start of “K-Zombie,” Peninsula became a hot topic when it was officially invited to the Cannes Film Festival and drew 350,000 moviegoers on the first day of its release, the highest record this year. The original break-even point of Peninsula was 5.7 million viewers (budget of 19 billion KRW/16,018,356 USD), but it was lowered to 2.5 million viewers by a calculation method that deducts overseas sales and expected VOD earnings in advance.
Steel Rain 2: Summit (release date: 07.29.2020)
First weekend audience/Box Office: 662,686/KRW 5.874 Billion (about 4,954,290 USD)
Accumulated audience/Box Office: 1,772,991/KRW 14.565 Billion (about 12,284,514 USD)
It is the sequel to director Yang Woo Suk’s 2017 film Steel Rain. On the first day of its release, it attracted 220,000 viewers, a similar number to the prequel. But VOD was released without achieving 3.95 million moviegoers, due to unfavorable factors such as COVID-19, heavy rain, worsening inter-Korean relations at the time of its release, and unfavorable reviews.
Deliver Us From Evil (release date: 08.05.2020)
First weekend audience/Box Office: 1,389,498/KRW 12.545 Billion (about 10,579,266 USD)
Accumulated audience/Box Office: 4,105,610/KRW 36.461 Billion (about 30,747,758 USD)
The first release in August, Deliver Us From Evil, began with about 340,000 viewers on the first day of its release, which is similar to Peninsula, and the number of moviegoers began to multiply amid rave reviews. On August 22, the 18th day of its release, the movie surpassed 4 million viewers, achieving the break-even point (3.5 million viewers) and winning the title of “4 million movies” for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Okay! Madam (release date: 08.12.2020)
First weekend audience/Box Office: 574,137/KRW 5.425 Billion (about 4,573,813 USD)
Accumulated audience/Box Office: 1,135,328/KRW 10.209 Billion (about 8,607,490 USD)
It is an action comedy movie about an “airplane hijacking incident” and seemed to have a solid box office success when it attracted a total of 780,000 moviegoers until the first weekend of its release. However, the red light came on to its journey to break-even point when the number of viewers plunged in the second week due to the unexpected re-surge of COVID-19. The break-even point is 2 million moviegoers.
