Yeon Sang-ho’s ‘Swarm’ Smashes Through Overseas Markets Too…Malaysia and Taiwan Top All-Time List for South Korean Films

Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie film ‘Swarm’ is sparking a runaway surge in ticket sales not only at home but also in the global market.

On the 16th, according to CJ CGV’s subsidiary CJ 4DPLEX (4DPLEX), ‘Swarm’ set the top box-office record among this year’s technology-special-theater releases in Malaysia. Technology special theaters are venues that apply advanced screening technologies such as ScreenX (SCREENX) and 4DX to deliver a heightened level of immersion for audiences.

In Malaysia’s special theaters, ‘Swarm’ recorded sales of $200,000 (about 300 million won) and edged out heavyweight Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘Project Hail Mary’ and ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ to take No. 1 for special-theater revenue this year.

The box-office buzz spreading across Asia continued in Taiwan as well. In Taiwan, the film reached $400,000 (about 600 million won) in sales and set a new record for the highest-performing South Korean film ever released in local technology special theaters.

Currently, ‘Swarm’ is playing in 12 countries worldwide and at 118 technology special theaters, with overseas special-theater sales totaling $1.7 million (about 2.6 billion won) and cumulative admissions surpassing 160,000. Riding this global box-office momentum, the film is set to open in North America in August, and observers expect its scale of success to grow further.

The domestic box-office performance is also drawing attention. As of the day before, the film logged about 5.246 million cumulative admissions at home, marking the second time among this year’s releases to cross the 5 million mark.

CJ 4DPLEX CEO Bang Jun-sik said, “The dazzling performance of this ‘Swarm’ proves a representative case of how South Korea’s outstanding content and the technology special theaters developed independently can deliver perfect synergy in the world market.”