Korean Thriller 'Salmokji' Dominates Weekend Box Office

The horror film "Salmokji," starring Kim Hye-yun, maintained its number one position at the box office for the second consecutive weekend, holding the top spot for two weeks in a row. Over the weekend from the 17th to the 19th, it drew 472,121 viewers, bringing the total cumulative audience to over 1.46 million. Among Korean films released this year, only three have attracted more viewers than "Salmokji": "The King and the Clown" (16.58 million viewers), "If We Were" (2.47 million viewers), and "Humint" (1.98 million viewers).

The box office success of "Salmokji" is expected to slow down somewhat due to new releases this week. This week, Lee Myung-se's documentary film "Ran 12.3" and Jung Woo's film "Jjanggu," in which he both directed and starred, are set to open. As of 9:30 AM on the 20th, the pre-sale ticket counts for the two films were 35,900 and 26,800 respectively, surpassing "Salmokji's" pre-sale ticket count of 20,300.

"Salmokji" is the second feature film by director Lee Sang-min, who debuted with the horror film "Ghost Calling App: Young." It tells the story of a film crew entering "Salmokji," a reservoir with continuous strange rumors. Kim Hye-yun plays the protagonist "Su-in," and the cast also includes Lee Jong-won, Kim Joon-han, Kim Young-sung, Oh Dong-min, Yoon Jae-chan, and Jang Da-ah.

In the weekend box office rankings, "Project Hail Mary" took second place, attracting 170,721 viewers and reaching a cumulative audience of 2.29 million. "The King and the Clown" ranked third, adding 104,955 viewers and surpassing 16.58 million in cumulative audience. Other films in the top five included "My Name Is" at fourth place and "Goat: The Legend" at fifth.