The only major film in theaters at the end of the year, ‘Harbin’ (directed by Woo Min-ho), attracted about 380,000 viewers on its opening day, rising to the top of the box office.
According to the integrated computer network of the Korean Film Council on the 25th, ‘Harbin’ drew 380,817 viewers the previous day, bringing its cumulative audience to 405,498. It dethroned ‘The Firefighter,’ which had maintained its position at the top. The advance ticket sales rate is also overwhelmingly in first place.
However, the actual audience ratings were sharply divided, and the CGV Golden Egg Index, which was at 99% before the screening, plummeted to 88% in just one day. This is the lowest figure among the films currently in the box office top ranks (‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ 93%, ‘The Firefighter’ 93%, ‘Moana 2’ 92%). The Naver audience and netizen ratings are also in the 7-point range. Given that the director and the team had shown confidence in the film's quality from the beginning, this is a rather disappointing outcome.
The major film ‘Harbin,’ which cost about 30 billion won, tells the story of those who thought of their country before themselves, focusing on the ‘noble soul’ Ahn Jung-geun. It stars Hyun Bin, Park Jung-min, Jo Woo-jin, Jeon Yeo-bin, and Lee Dong-wook, with a break-even point of about 6.5 million viewers.
‘The Firefighter’ has been pushed down to second place. On the same day, it attracted 80,983 viewers, bringing its cumulative audience to 2,743,234.
Released on the 4th, ‘The Firefighter’ tells the story of firefighters who were deployed with the sole goal of extinguishing the fire and rescuing everyone, despite the poor conditions during the 2001 Hongje-dong fire disaster. It has already surpassed its break-even point (2.5 million) and has reached its target for the ‘119 Won Donation Challenge,’ which donates ticket revenue to the National Fire Hospital, set to be completed in 2025.
In third place is ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ (directed by Barry Jenkins), which has gathered 27,754 viewers, recording a cumulative audience of 360,902. Following it, ‘Moana 2’ and ‘Crayon Shin-chan: Our Dinosaur Diary’ ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Current advance ticket sales rates are ‘Harbin’ (51.7%), ‘The Firefighter’ (9.4%), and ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ (7.7%).
