"The Roundup" Box Office: Korean Hit Surpasses 1.3 Million Viewers

The movie "Salmokji" is creating a box office sensation, surpassing 1.3 million cumulative viewers. According to the Integrated Network of Admission Performance on the 19th, "Salmokji" ranked first in the daily box office on the 18th, drawing 211,511 viewers. This brings the cumulative audience count to 1,300,203.

"Salmokji" is a horror film depicting the terror experienced by a film crew who head to a reservoir to investigate an unidentified figure captured on road view. Kim Hye-yoon and Lee Jong-won star in the movie. Since its release on the 8th, it gained word-of-mouth popularity and surpassed its break-even point of 800,000 viewers within a week of its release, on the 14th. With a steady influx of audiences thereafter, it exceeded 1.3 million viewers in just ten days of its release, establishing itself as the top-grossing horror film of the first half of the year.

According to the Korean Film Council's Integrated Network of Admission Performance, "Salmokji" maintained its number one position at the box office on the 18th, attracting 211,508 daily viewers nationwide. The cumulative audience count stands at 1,300,200. The film was screened on 1,511 screens nationwide, achieving a screen share of 21.3% and a running time share of 37.2%. Cumulative revenue has surpassed 13.4 billion won, with a net production cost of 3 billion won.

The reasons for "Salmokji's" box office success are analyzed to be a combination of the narrative tension utilizing the confined reservoir space, horror elements grounded in reality, and strategic use of special screening formats like ScreenX. Kim Hye-yoon meticulously portrayed the emotional changes in extreme situations, while Lee Jong-won delivered a stable performance despite it being his first leading role in a commercial film. Director Lee Sang-min has made his presence known in his feature debut by pursuing both technical experimentation and genre completion.

The total number of weekend moviegoers was recorded at 408,296, more than double the previous day, showing a clear upward trend. "Salmokji" maintained its audience appeal in its second week of release, drawing over 200,000 viewers. Amidst Korean films accounting for over 60% of the market share, the horror genre showed a distinct strength.