The historical film The King’s Warden is closing in on a major box office milestone in Korea.
According to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking system on March 5th, the film drew 189,640 moviegoers on the 4th, bringing its total audience to 9,597,458. After racing past the 9 million mark, the film is now just over 400,000 viewers away from reaching the coveted 10 million milestone.
As excitement builds, director Jang Hang Jun recently addressed the bold pledge he made earlier in the film’s run. Appearing on the radio show Bae Seong Jae’s TEN in January, the director jokingly promised several over-the-top stunts if the movie surpassed 10 million viewers, including changing his name, undergoing plastic surgery and hosting a cruise party.
Jang later admitted he never expected the film to come this close. “I still can’t believe it,” he said. “The opening day numbers were so low that I was discouraged. I honestly didn’t think it would reach 10 million. At the time, we were just hoping to break even.” He added that the promise was originally meant as a lighthearted joke. “Now it has become a huge burden. The production company even held meetings about it,” he said.
Jang joked that friends had already been reaching out. “I’ve received hundreds of messages from people saying they wanted to say goodbye before I change my name and phone number,” he said with a laugh.
The director ultimately revised the promises. Instead of changing his name or undergoing surgery, he announced that a coffee truck event will be held through distributor Showbox on March 12th at noon in Seoul’s Jung District.
Meanwhile, the lead star Park Ji Hoon has also stepped forward to support the film’s momentum by promoting the region where the movie was filmed. Yesterday, organizers of the Danjong Cultural Festival shared a promotional video featuring Park Ji Hoon on their official account. The festival takes place in Yeongwol, where parts of the film were shot.
“While filming in Yeongwol, I had such a great experience thanks to the beautiful scenery and the kind people there,” Park Ji Hoon said in the video. He added, “The 59th Danjong Cultural Festival will be held there for three days from April 24th to 26th. There will be many programs where you can experience the story of King Danjong up close, so I hope many people will come and enjoy it.”
With just a few hundred thousand tickets left before the milestone, The King’s Warden is continuing its energetic run toward 10 million viewers amid growing excitement.
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