'Smugglers' draws 3.5 million viewers in second week

“Smugglers” attracted a cumulative total of 3.5 million moviegoers, while competing films “Ransomed” and “The Moon” failed to attract even one million over the weekend. “Smugglers,” starring Kim Hye-soo and Yum Jung-ah as female divers, attracted...

Main poster for ″Smugglers″ [NEXT ENTERTAINMENT WORLD]

“Smugglers” attracted a cumulative total of 3.5 million moviegoers, while competing films “Ransomed” and “The Moon” failed to attract even one million over the weekend.

“Smugglers,” starring Kim Hye-soo and Yum Jung-ah as female divers, attracted 3.5 million moviegoers in the second week of its release as of Sunday. Only one other Korean film, “The Roundup: No Way Out,” had attracted more than 3 million viewers. “The Roundup: No Way Out” ultimately garnered 10.6 million, becoming the first film since the wane of the Covid-19 pandemic to gain the title of 10-million-ticket-seller.

Main poster for ″Ransomed″ [SHOWBOX]

“Ransomed” and “The Moon,” which opened in theaters last Wednesday, only managed to attract 700,000 and 360,000 cumulative audiences, respectively. “Ransomed” stars Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon as a duo that tries to deliver a ransom to save a kidnapped diplomat, while “The Moon” is led by Do Kyung-soo and Sul Kyung-gu and tells a story of astronauts in space.

Main poster for ″The Moon″ [CJ ENM]

As “Concrete Utopia,” one of the four films including “Smugglers,” “Ransomed” and “The Moon” that was expected to revive the Korean film industry, and the one that got the most positive reviews from critics so far, is opening on Wednesday, it looks unlikely “Ransomed” and “The Moon” will do better at the box office. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is also opening in theaters next week, while the Pixar animation “Elemental” is still doing well in theaters and seems hard to beat.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]