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The Korean New Year’s holidays are meant to bring multiple generations of families together. Nevertheless, what can they do with three days of free time? After holding ancestral rites and giving New Year’s greetings, it has become common for families or friends to go out to see movies. Of course this means the movie industry focuses on the Lunar New Year holidays. One of the best strategies for box office success is releasing a movie several weeks before and promoting naturally through word-of-mouth until the holidays. So, the best time to premiere movies is in late January because the Lunar New Year holidays usually fall in late January or early February. However, the biggest box office hits of the last five Lunar New Years generally have been released in December of the previous year and continued to attract audiences up through the holidays. Ode to My Father (2014) and The Attorney (2013) are typical cases. Ode to My Father, which ranks third all-time at the Korean box office, was released on December 17, 2014 and held third place until the next New Year’s holidays, bringing in 14,257,115 moviegoers. Currently ranking 12th all-time at the Korean box office, The Attorney drew audiences totaling 11,374,610 from its release on December 18, 2013 through the Lunar New Year holidays. 

This year, things are not much different. Fantasy blockbuster Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) continues its extended run of strong box office performances thanks in part to the highly anticipated superhero movie Psychokinesis not doing as well as expected. Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds attracted 14,398,300 moviegoers through this year’s Lunar New Year holidays, while family drama Keys to the Heart, Disney’s Coco and latecomer Black Panther had a fierce competition for the second and third places. As a result, Coco took the second spot.