[HanCinema's News] South Korean Box Office Recovers to 70% of Pre-pandemic Level

According to figures released by the Korean Film Council on December 14th, the South Korean box office took in 32 million dollars in ticket sales over the month of November. The figure is 70% of the average November box office from 2017 to 2019, around 45 million dollars. However, it is over 20% higher than the equivalent figures for November of 2022. The news signals growing signs of recovery for the South Korean film market.

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The improvement was largely thanks to "12.12: The Day" which was released on November 22nd and has earned 7,729,273 admissions as of this writing. Around five million of these admissions were actually earned in December, suggesting that December may even exceed typical prepandemic levels. The performance of "Noryang: Deadly Sea" later this month will be another critical data point for this analysis.

"12.12: The Day" is currently the second-highest performing film at the South Korean box office this year. While it may in theory catch up to "The Roundup: No Way Out" the summer blockbuster had over ten million admissions, and "12.12: The Day" had only 1.5 million admissions in its last weekend. "12.12: The Day" dramatizes the military situation in Seoul following the a presdiential assassination in 1979.

Written by William Schwartz