Director Lee Sang-il's 'KOKUHO' Tops Box Office for Japanese Live-Action Films!

The film 〈KOKUHO〉 by director Lee Sang-il, who is of Korean descent, has broken the highest box office revenue record for Japanese live-action films.

According to reports from Kyodo News and Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 25th, distributor Toho announced that 〈KOKUHO〉 has attracted a cumulative audience of 12.31 million people and achieved box office revenue of 17.37 billion yen (approximately 1.63 billion won) as of the previous day.

With this, 〈KOKUHO〉 has succeeded in surpassing the box office revenue record of 17.3 billion yen set by 〈Bayside Shakedown The Movie 2〉 in 2002, breaking the record after about 22 years.

However, it ranked 11th in the overall box office rankings for Japanese films, including animations and foreign films.

According to data from Japan's 'Box Office Communications', the highest-grossing film of all time is 〈Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie - Mugen Train〉 (40.75 billion yen), followed by the currently screening 〈Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle Arc〉 (37.93 billion yen) and Hayao Miyazaki's 〈The Spiriting Away Of Sen And Chihiro〉 (31.68 billion yen).

Released on June 6, 〈KOKUHO〉 is based on the novel of the same name by Shuichi Yoshida and depicts the love-hate relationship within the world of traditional Japanese performing arts, Kabuki. Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama star in the film.

Director Lee Sang-il, known for directing 〈Hula Girls〉, 〈Villain〉, and 〈RAGE〉, is a director of Korean descent who has also participated in directing the Apple TV+ original series 〈Pachinko〉 Season 2.