April sees record-breaking cinema admissions thanks to ‘The Roundup: Punishment’

Last month recorded the highest April box office revenue for Korean films thanks to the success of “The Roundup: Punishment,” a report showed Tuesday.

According to the Korean Film Council’s (KOFIC) monthly report on the Korean film industry, box office revenue reached a record high of 63.6 billion won (US$46.4 million) last month, marking the second consecutive month of breaking revenue records. March also saw record-breaking admissions, fueled by the huge success of the occult movie “Exhuma.”

This figure was twice as much as the 31.8 billion won recorded in the same month from 2017-19, before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the film industry.

On the contrary, foreign films generally performed poorly, generating 26.4 billion won in revenue, which is approximately 35 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

KOFIC attributed the weak performance to the absence of blockbuster Hollywood movies, partly due to the aftermath of last year’s Hollywood strike.

Released on April 24, the crime-action film “The Roundup: Punishment,” featuring Ma Dong-seok, has attracted over 9.7 million viewers so far.

Concerns have emerged, however, in the film industry regarding the dominance of a single film in local theaters, fueled by its record-high screening occupancy rates. Within days of its release, the movie logged an 82 percent screening occupancy rate, the highest since 2012, according to KOFIC.