South Korea’s box office admissions recorded a rise of 11% in 2023, boosted by two local hits, but saw 44.8% fewer cinemagoers than in pre-Covid 2019.
There was a total of 125.1 million admissions in 2023, according to the Korea Box-office Information System (Kobis), demonstrating steady growth year-on-year.
However, with audiences still not returning to cinemas at pre-pandemic levels, the number is a 44.8% decrease from 2019, which was year before the Covid-19 outbreak but also the all-time highest box office year on record in terms of admissions and gross.
Total box office gross last year went up 8.7% to KW1.261tn ($961m) compared to 2022 when social distancing measures ended in April. 2022 had seen a 98.5% increase on box office gross, although it was still at 60.6% of 2019.
South Korea’s 2023 box office was led by two local films: director Kim Sung-soo’s historical action drama 12.12: The Day; and Don Lee-starring franchise action film The Roundup: No Way Out, which pumped up total admissions with 11.8 million and 10.6 million tickets sold, respectively.
They were not very closely followed by two animated features: Disney’s Elemental with around 7.2 million admissions; and Makoto Shinkai’s fantasy adventure Suzume with around 5.57 million admissions.
Director Ryoo Seung-wan’s drug-smuggling sea divers action film Smugglers, which also screened in Locarno and Toronto, followed with 5.1 million admissions.
Local films took 48.6% of market share, down from 55.7% in 2022. US films took 35% while Japanese films took 14.1%. These were trailed by Chinese and UK films – each with 0.4%.
South Korea box office 2023
| Rank | Title | Country | Distributor | Release date | Gross ($m) | Admissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12.12: The Day | S Korea | Plus M Entertainment | 22/11/2023 | 88.15 | 11,854,809 |
| 2 | The Roundup: No Way Out | S Korea | K-Movie Entertainment | 31/05/2023 | 80 | 10,682,813 |
| 3 | Elemental | US | Walt Disney Company Korea | 15/06/2023 | 54.35 | 7,238,453 |
| 4 | Suzume | Japan | Showbox | 8/3/2023 | 43.64 | 5,574,358 |
| 5 | Smugglers | S Korea | Contents Panda | 26/07/2023 | 37.97 | 5,143,219 |
| 6 | The First Slam Dunk | Japan | NEW | 4/1/2023 | 38.25 | 4,786,406 |
| 7 | Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 | US | Walt Disney Company Korea | 3/5/2023 | 33.89 | 4,209,118 |
| 8 | Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One | US | Lotte Entertainment | 12/7/2023 | 30.89 | 4,022,072 |
| 9 | Concrete Utopia | S Korea | Lotte Entertainment | 9/8/2023 | 28.59 | 3,849,242 |
| 10 | Avatar: The Way of Water | US | Walt Disney Company Korea | 14/12/2022 | 36.18 | 3,491,916 |
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