Korean cinema drives box office revival, nearing pre-pandemic levels

A visitor looks at a poster for "The King's Warden" at a movie theater in Seoul. [Yonhap]

The first half of 2026 belonged to Korean cinema. "The King's Warden" set an all-time box office sales record for a Korean film, and director Yeon Sang-ho's "Gunche" followed with its own commercial success, reaffirming the enduring strength of the domestic film industry. Buoyed by the string of hits, movie theaters have regained their energy, and Korean film sales have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the Korean Film Council's "2026 First-Half Korean Film Industry Report" released Wednesday, total box office sales for the first half reached 579 billion won ($395 million), with total admissions at about 57.05 million. Both figures represent sharp year-on-year gains — up 41.9% and 34.2%, respectively.

The revival was driven by a succession of domestic hits across multiple genres, beginning with "Manyage Woori" in January and continuing through the 10-million-admission film "The King's Warden," "Gunche" and "Salmokji." The report shows Korean films captured a 63.9% share of first-half box office sales — up 14.0 percentage points from the same period last year — while their share of total admissions rose 15.2 percentage points to 65.5%.

"2026 First-Half Korean Film Industry Report" [Korean Film Council]

Admissions and sales for Korean films surged sharply compared to a year earlier. Korean film sales in the first half reached 370.2 billion won, while Korean film admissions totaled about 37.37 million — year-on-year increases of 81.7% and 74.9%, respectively. Compared with the pre-pandemic period, first-half Korean film sales recovered to 94.2% of the 2017–2019 average of 392.9 billion won, while admissions recovered to 78.1% of that benchmark.

Foreign films, meanwhile, lost ground to the domestic surge despite strong performances from "Project Hail Mary" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash." First-half foreign film sales came to 208.8 billion won, with admissions at about 19.68 million — a 6.9% year-on-year decline in ticket buyers.

Demand for premium formats continued to grow. Combined first-half sales from IMAX, 4D, ScreenX and Dolby Cinema reached 45.7 billion won — up 56.3% year on year — while admissions for those formats rose 49 percent to about 2.85 million. Premium-format sales accounted for 7.9% of total box office revenue, up 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier, with IMAX sales alone climbing 48.7% year on year.

The rise in premium-format ticket sales, combined with a broader increase in admission prices, pushed the average ticket price up 551 won from a year earlier to 10,150 won in the first half.

In distributor rankings, Showbox claimed an overwhelming first place with a 48.6% share of first-half box office sales — equivalent to 281.4 billion won — after distributing four films that all became blockbusters: "The King's Warden," "Gunche," "Salmokji" and "Manyage Woori."

balme@heraldcorp.com