[Holiday Movie Lineup] Jun Ji-hyun and Yeon Sang-ho’s “Kundo” Tops 1 Million in 4 Days—Fastest Record This Year

A new box-office paradigm for the Korean film industry, the overwhelming run of “Kundo”

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s distinct dystopian universe and the inimitable grip of Jun Ji-hyun have given rise to a new chapter in K-zombies. With “Kundo” surpassing 1 million cumulative viewers in just four days since its release, it is rattling the theater-going ecosystem.

According to a statement released by distributor Showbox on the 24th, “Kundo” pulled off the feat of claiming the 1 million viewer milestone in the shortest period among this year’s releases. That is an astonishing pace that brought forward the 1 million milestone by a full day compared with the mega hit “The Man Who Lives Next Door”, this year’s top box-office film that drew 16 million viewers.

Fear intensifies inside sealed space... Midnight craze that caught Cannes’ attention

Unveiled on the 21st, “Kundo” takes a closed-off building hit by an infection incident of unknown cause as its setting, and stitches together a fierce fight between a biotech researcher and professor Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun) and survivors through high-density suspense. As an ambitious new work by Director Yeon Sang-ho, who led the global K-zombie syndrome with “Train to Busan” and “Peninsula”, it drew early, rapturous acclaim from film critics worldwide through an invitation to this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screening segment.

The reality behind the box-office surge that hit both the public and critics

CGV egg index—also a strict indicator of audiences’ real viewing evaluations—came in at 87%, proving the film’s both artistic merit and mass appeal at the same time. As of noon on the 24th, the advance ticket sales rate stood at 47.5%, with an overwhelming figure of about 249,000 advance-ticket viewers, signaling an uninterrupted run at the top of the box office for the time being.

The return of a legend, the pop emperor resurrected on the screen “Michael”

Meanwhile, the electrical film “Michael”, which perfectly restores the eventful life of pop emperor Michael Jackson onto the screen, also surpassed 1 million viewers in the morning of the 24th, on day 12 of its release, lending a hand to the theater-going double-hit box-office success.

Released on the 13th, “Michael” carefully captured the tightly woven storyline of how the pop icon went from his childhood to ruling as an unparalleled figure. In particular, by vividly recreating his immortal hit songs and legendary performances on the screen, it is sparking explosive nostalgia and strong responses from audiences across generations.