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Korean historical action drama 12.12: The Day has grossed $90.5M and sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period to become the highest grossing film of 2023.
Released on November 22, the film overtook The Roundup: No Way Out in both admissions and revenue terms on Christmas Day. It marks the first time in four years since the release of Oscar-winning drama Parasite that a non franchise local title has crossed 12 million admissions.
Disney’s Elemental is the third highest grossing film of 2023 in Korea, grossing $54M from 7.2 million admissions following its June 2023 release.
Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness) and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North).
Produced by Hive Media Corp, the film is distributed by Plus M Entertainment, which also handled local distribution of The Roundup: No Way Out. The third film in a popular franchise starring Don Lee, The Roundup: No Way Out grossed $80M and crossed the 10 million admissions mark following its release in May 2023.
Despite the success of these two titles however, last year was a lacklustre one for Korean films, which have struggled to recover box office share following the pandemic.
Halfway through the year, Korean productions accounted for just 34.9% of total box office and 36% of admissions for the January-June 2023 period, a significant drop from pre-pandemic days when local movies usually had a more than 50% market share.
12.12: The Day is still on release but slipped to the number two position at the Korean box office on December 20 following the opening of action drama Noryang: Deadly Sea, the last installment in a trilogy following The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014) and Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022), which sold more than 900,000 tickets over the holidays.
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