EXCLUSIVE: South Korea’s Showbox has sold box office smash The King’s Warden to the US, UK & Ireland, and several key Asian territories.
The period drama, which now ranks as the fifth biggest local film of all time in South Korea, has been acquired for North America (JBG Pictures USA), the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand (K-Movie Entertainment UK), Japan (Kadokawa Kplus), Taiwan (MovieCloud), Mongolia (Filmbridge), Singapore and Indonesia (Purple Plan – theatrical), Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines (CJ ENM HK – TV & VOD), Vietnam (United K Entertainment) and airlines (Emphasis).
Directed by Jang Hang-jun, the film is set in 1457 during the Joseon Dynasty and tells the story of a village chief who accepts the deposed teenage King Danjong into his remote mountain village, unaware of the political turmoil and danger to follow.
It stars Yoo Hae-jin of Exhuma as the village chief and Park Ji-hoon – also known as a singer in boy band Wanna One – as the young king. The cast also includes Yoo Ji-tae and Jeon Mi-do.
Director Jang’s previous credits include 2002 action comedy Break Out and 2023 sports drama Rebound. Presented by Showbox, the film is produced by Onda Works and B.A. Entertainment (known for The Roundup film franchise).
Released on February 4, the film has made $88m at the local box office from 13.6 million admissions, making it South Korea’s biggest box office hit since the Covid pandemic, and is continuing to perform strongly.
The film topped 10 million admissions on March 5, surpassing the symbolic landmark that serves as the Korean film industry’s definitive marker of a smash hit and a milestone that no feature achieved in 2025.
The last films to do so were Jang Jae-hyun’s supernatural thriller Exhuma (11.9 million admissions) in March 2024 and action crime feature The Roundup: Punishment (11.5 million admissions), starring Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee), two months later in May.
South Korea’s top performing local film by admissions remains 2014’s The Admiral: Roaring Currents, which sold 17.6 million tickets. The country’s biggest non-Korean film by admissions is Avengers: Endgame, which sold 13.9 million tickets in 2019 – a target The King’s Warden has firmly in its sights.
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