Korean Box Office Hits: Salmokji, Wangsanam

The movie "Salmokji" is continuing its box office success, surpassing 1 million viewers in just 10 days of its release. This marks the fastest achievement of 1 million viewers for a horror film since "Metamorphosis" in 2019. "Salmokji" is a horror film about a film crew who heads to a reservoir to investigate an unidentified figure captured on road view. The actual filming location, "Salmokji" in Yesan County, South Chungcheong Province, is also gaining attention as a "​horror experience hotspot." Yesan County and Korea Water Resources Corporation are responding to its popularity by producing parody videos and establishing safety guidelines.

Along with the success of "Salmokji," distributor Showbox's consecutive box office hits are also drawing attention. Showbox kicked off the year with "If We Were" (2026), which surpassed 2.6 million viewers, and is currently enjoying a long run with "The King and the Man," which has drawn 16.48 million viewers, ranking it second in box office history. Furthermore, the film "Gunchye" was invited to the Midnight Screening section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Kim Hye-yoon, an actress in "Salmokji," expressed her wish, "I hope 'Salmokji' is also a hit, drawing energy from 'The King and the Man'."

Recently, movie theaters have been experiencing a generally quiet atmosphere, with audiences concentrating on a few specific films. There's a tendency for audiences to flock to idol virtual reality (VR) content screening rooms or box office hits like "​The King and the Man." A representative from Megabox explained, "If there are no hit films, the overall number of viewers significantly decreases."

The primary reason for audiences moving to Online Video Services (OTT) instead of movie theaters is the burden of cost. Many viewers find movie ticket prices to be expensive, and considering that OTT subscription fees are cheaper than the cost of a single movie ticket, they express significant financial strain from moviegoing expenses. Additionally, for films not deemed worth watching exclusively in theaters, many people choose to wait for their OTT release or opt for entirely different content.

Despite the success of hit films like "The King and the Man," which surpassed 16 million viewers, movie theaters remain quiet. This is analyzed as being due to the concentration of screen time on specific films. In the past, films could surpass 10 million viewers with 300 to 700 screens, but recently, the number of screens has significantly increased, with some films securing over 2,000 screens. Experts point out that this structure leads to audience concentration rather than an increase in overall viewers, causing a polarization phenomenon where diverse films struggle to find their place and box office success is determined by distribution scale.