‘The King’s Warden‘ is nearing 10 million ticket sales. Here’s why that number matters.

When "The King's Warden" opened on Feb. 4, a full week ahead of the Lunar New Year window, many in the industry read the timing as a kind of concession. Ryoo Seung-wan's 23.5 billion won ($16 million) spy thriller "Humint," due a week later, was positioned as the season's main event; opening early looked like a move to grab whatever audience was available before the bigger film landed. Four weeks on, "The King's Warden" has drawn 8.48 million admissions, becoming one of Korean cinema's unlikelie

March 2, 2026

'The King's Warden' tops 8 mln views, on track for 10 mln

The historical film "The King's Warden" topped 8 million cumulative admissions at the domestic box office Sunday and is on track for the 10 million milestone, box-office data showed. The film had drawn slightly more than 8 million viewers as of 9 a.m. Sunday since its release Feb. 4, according to Showbox, the movie's distributor. Box-office data showed nearly 655,000 viewers watched the film on Saturday alone, the first day of the three-day extended holiday that includes March 1 Independence Mov

March 1, 2026

'The King's Warden' tops 7 million admissions

The historical film "The King's Warden" has topped a cumulative 7 million admissions in the domestic box office, data from the Korean Film Council showed Saturday. The film has drawn a total of 7.01 million moviegoers as of Friday since its release Feb. 4, more than double its break-even point of approximately 2.6 million. Directed by Jang Hang-jun, whose previous works include the action comedy "Break Out" (2002) and the sports drama "Rebound" (2023), "The King's Warden" reimagines historical e

Feb. 28, 2026

Movies in theaters this week

"5 Centimeters per Second" (Japan) Opened Feb. 25 Romance/Drama Directed by Takahiro Miki The childhood bond between Takaki (Hokuto Matsumura) and Akari (Mitsuki Takahata) unravels across years of distance and longing, in this live-action adaptation of Makoto Shinkai's 2007 animated film. "Ne Zha 2" (China) Opened Feb. 25 Animation/Fantasy Directed by Jiaozi Demon child Ne Zha and his friend Ao Bing must share one body as they take on three perilous trials to achieve immortality, in this sequel

Feb. 27, 2026

When flamenco meets the office grind

"Mad." "Dance." "Office." Those three words seem to have no business sitting next to each other. Put together, they make for the kind of title that makes you scratch your head and wonder what exactly you're in for. That mismatch is the whole point, director Cho Hyun-jin said at Tuesday's press conference at CGV Yongsan in Seoul. "The dissonance between mad dancing and the office is where the fun comes from," she said. "Dancing at work feels unnatural and uncomfortable. But the irony is what make

Feb. 27, 2026

South Korea's 2024 martial law crisis being adapted for big screen

A film tentatively titled "Martial Law 12.3," which would be the first narrative feature based on former President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, has locked in its cast and will begin shooting in the first half of the year, production company IP Box Media 1 said Wednesday. Written and directed by Park Kyung-soo, the film carries the subtitle "PM 10:24," a nod to the time Yoon appeared in a televised address to declare martial law. It pieces together the be

Feb. 26, 2026

Park Chan-wook named 2026 Cannes jury president

South Korean director Park Chan-wook has been named president of the jury at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, organizers said on Thursday. Park, 62, best known for his revenge thriller "Oldboy," succeeds French actress Juliette Binoche to become the first Korean to hold the position in the festival's 79-year history. This year's festival runs May 12-23. The festival praised Park's genre-blending filmmaking as "narrative, stylistic and moral," according to a statement released in Paris. "We are del

Feb. 26, 2026

'Pavane' stars talk chemistry behind an unlikely romance

A pavane is a slow court dance, stately and deliberate. Lee Jong-pil's Netflix film borrows the name and the tempo from the dance. Its rise on the charts, though, has been anything but slow. Since its Feb. 20 release, "Pavane" has climbed to No. 1 among movies in South Korea and No. 7 on Netflix's global chart for non-English films. Adapted from Park Min-gyu's 2009 novel "Pavane for a Dead Princess," the film follows two young department store workers: Gyeong-rok (Moon Sang-min), an aspiring dan

Feb. 26, 2026

Tickets for BTS world tour cinema screenings go on sale, sell out fast in Korea

Ticket sales for the cinema broadcast of BTS's upcoming world tour opened Wednesday, with screenings in South Korea selling out in minutes. The live viewings, which beam full-length concerts into movie theaters for audiences to watch in real time, will cover two dates from the group's "Arirang" world tour: the April 11 gig in Goyang, South Korea and the April 18 gig in Tokyo. Both will be broadcast live as the group performs, with some regions receiving a delayed feed to account for time differe

Feb. 25, 2026

Korea's top directors are making microdramas now. Industry is paying attention.

Two of South Korea's top-grossing filmmakers and a major distributor have entered the microdrama market, the latest sign that the country's entertainment establishment is treating the fast-growing short-form format as a serious business rather than a passing novelty. Lee Byeong-heon, the director of "Extreme Job" (2019), which sold 16 million tickets to become the highest-grossing Korean film ever, premiered his first microdrama on Feb. 4. "My Baby Daddy Is My Guy Friend" (working title) was rel

Feb. 24, 2026

Late actor Kim Sae-ron's last film set for March release

"Everyday We Are," the last completed film featuring Kim Sae-ron, will open in theaters on March 4, the production said Monday. The release comes just over a year after Kim's death on Feb. 16, 2025, at age 24. Adapted from the eponymous web comic, the film follows a group of teenagers finding their way through first love. Kim plays Yeo-ul, a high school girl whose childhood friend Ho-soo (Lee Chae-min) confesses his feelings for her right before their middle school graduation. The movie marks th

Feb. 24, 2026

Korean box office hit has fans review-bombing a Joseon king's tomb

If you pull up the Naver Map listing for Gwangneung -- the royal tomb of King Sejo, seventh monarch of the Joseon Kingdom, nestled in the outskirts of Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province -- you'll find a torrent of one-star ratings and emotionally charged rebukes that have been piling up over the past few weeks. "How could you do that to your own nephew," one reads. "Burn in hell forever you psychopath," says another. The vibe is less travel review, more public score-settling. The scene at the grave of

Feb. 20, 2026

Movies in theaters this week

"Humint" (South Korea) Opened Feb. 11 Action/Thriller Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan A South Korean intelligence officer (Zo In-sung) and a North Korean state security agent (Park Jung-min) find their missions colliding in Vladivostok, where a shared connection to a North Korean woman (Shin Se-kyung) draws them into a dangerous game of espionage and survival. "Wuthering Heights" (US) Opened Feb. 11 Romance/Drama Directed by Emerald Fennell On the windswept Yorkshire moors, Catherine Earnshaw (Margot

Feb. 20, 2026

Seollal movie attendance rebounds but still falls short of pre-COVID highs

Lunar New Year has long been one of the Korean film industry's most reliable cash grabs, a stretch of days when families flood multiplexes and distributors place their biggest bets. That formula held strong for years, then came apart during the pandemic, and has been slow to reassemble ever since. This year's holiday was a step forward, measured against a low bar still. Korean theaters drew 3.23 million admissions across the four-day Lunar New Year stretch from Feb. 14 to 17 — a marked recovery

Feb. 18, 2026

Park Jung-min on 'Humint' crew: 'I don't think I'll ever have something like this again'

Somewhere in Latvia, in the dead of winter, with no reliable cell service and nothing to do after wrap, the cast of "Humint" found themselves stuck with each other. The film, director Ryoo Seung-wan's $16 million spy thriller, was shot extensively in Riga as a stand-in for Vladivostok, Russia, where much of the story unfolds. Looking back on those weeks abroad, Park Jung-min gets nostalgic. "We'd finish shooting and walk around these freezing, snowy streets together, talking about the movie, han

Feb. 18, 2026