Concert film “Lim Young-woong Im Hero: The Stadium” topped the box office in South Korea over the weekend, ahead of traditional narrative films “Alien: Romulus” and “Pilot.”
Data from the tracking service Kobis, run by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), showed that “I Am the Hero” grossed $1.89 million between Friday and Sunday and $3.47 million over its five-day opening. “The Alien: Romulus” grossed $1.66 million in its third weekend, for a 19-day total of $12.5 million.
But local conventions rank films by audience numbers. By that logic, “Alien: Romulus” held on to the top spot at the box office for a third week, selling 223,000 more tickets than “IM HERO” did with 87,000. That difference was due to the film’s significantly higher ticket prices.
Lim, who mostly sings romantic and trot songs, rose to prominence on a TV talent show in 2020. With his attractive looks and healthy image, he has since gained superstar status and a Taylor Swift-like fan base in Korea.
The film depicts his two-day performance at the Seoul World Cup stadium in May, interspersed with documentary coverage of months of preparations and behind-the-scenes footage of the performances. Over the five days, the film was seen by an estimated 161,000 spectators, far more than the two live shows.
The hit comedy “Pilot” grossed $906,000 in its fifth weekend. That put it in third place in terms of box office receipts (or second in terms of ticket sales). Since its release on July 31, the film has grossed $31 million (and $4.51 million in ticket sales), cementing its place as the fourth-biggest film of the year.
Ticket sales volumes caused another shift in the list. “Twisters” took the fourth spot in terms of revenue. It made $555,000 in its third weekend of release. This brings its cumulative total to $4.32 million.
Korean animated film “Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” dropped to fifth place (but held onto fourth place based on audience numbers, due to the high volume of children's tickets)), earning $511,000 over the weekend for a four-week total of $5.98 million.
The Korean horror thriller “Spring Garden” came in sixth place with $500,000 over the weekend. After 12 days of release, its total revenue reached $2.37 million.
The Hong Kong/China youth film “Better Days”, directed by Derek Tsang, grossed $343,000 over the weekend and placed seventh.
The Korean film “Victory” grossed $319,000 in its third weekend, bringing its total to $2.58 million.
The Korean political thriller “Land of Happiness” grossed $186,000, placing it at No. 9. After three weeks in release, the film has grossed $4.77 million.
The drama, based on the novel “Because I Hate Korea,” opened in 10th place with $131,000 over the weekend and $260,000 over its first five days. The film was the opening title of last year's Busan International Film Festival.
The weekend's box office total was $7.97 million, down 15% week-over-week.
The latest data underscores how Korea’s box office has been slumping this summer, and has generally struggled to recover in the post-Covid era. August box office revenue was 117 million won ($87.4 million), down 19 percent from August 2023. July box office revenue was 115 million won, down from 140 million won.
