August Sets New Benchmarks for Korean Box Office

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Local Releases Cross Major Milestones

Driven by the hot weather and a slate of enticing releases, August 2013 rode its way into the records books as it became the biggest month ever at the Korean box office, in term sales and admissions for both Korean films and all releases.

Total ticket sales for the month came in at 29,124,702, a 20% leap over August 2012’s 24,238,713, the previous record holder. Given the large 75.4% market share for local films during the period, the domestic total for the month was just as impressive as 21,947,405 tickets were sold for Korean films. The previous record holder was February 2013, which stood at 18,095,761 admissions.

Along with the admissions records came revenue records as the Korean box office eclipsed the KRW 200 billion mark for the first time during a month, recording KRW 205.46 billion (USD 187.53 million). Likewise, revenue for domestic releases went over KRW 150 billion for the first time, reaching KRW 156.05 billion (USD 142.42 million).

Looking at individual releases, a number of milestones were crossed throughout the month. Snowpiercer passed the nine million admissions mark, making its way into the all time top 10 in the process. Meanwhile, Hide and Seek and The Flu crossed the five and three million admissions marks, respectively, on September 1st. Hide and Seek became the seventh Korean film of the year to attract over five million spectators, which is also a record for the Korean film industry.

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