Korea’s thanksgiving known as Chuseok is one of the biggest holidays of the year. Taking place over three days at the end of the summer or the beginning of Autumn (depending on the lunar calendar), it’s a major festival that sees families coming together to celebrate the harvest. Like Christmas in the Western World, people spend weeks preparing the food and gifts underscoring the importance of the occasion.

News bulletins lead with journey times between Seoul and other cities such as Busan with roads getting jammed as millions head to their hometowns to spend time with their immediate and extended families. Restaurants up and down the country shut down for the holiday but the multiplexes remain open in what was in the pre-pandemic era one of the busiest seasons at the box office – together with the Lunar New Year, summer and end-of-year.

Ensuring, therefore, that films released during this season attract a wide demographic is important as different generations often view films together; from the younger ages to the elderly. As such, family-friendly films have been popular during this period – along with the lunar new year. Films like Miracle in Cell No. 7 will be go-to features on streaming platforms or VOD with many titles aired on terrestrial television.

This week given the Chuseok holiday, we profile films that are popular during this season beginning with My Brother (2004) before moving on to other family-friendly fare A Bold Family (2005), Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2012), Boomerang Family (2013), Canola (2016), Keys to the Heart (2017), The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (2018) and Switch (2021).