Korean animation 'Heartsping' sells 1 million tickets

The animated film "Heartsping: Teenieping of Love" surpassed 1 million ticket sales in 41 days.

Poster of "Heartsping: Teenieping of Love" at a movie theater in Yongsan District, central Seoul [YONHAP]

“Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” became the first homemade animated film in 12 years to sell more than 1 million tickets on Monday.

The film reached the milestone 41 days after its theatrical premiere. Only one other domestically produced animated film, “Speckles: The Tarbosaurus” (2012), has achieved the same feat, according to Showbox, the movie's distributor.

“Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” currently sits as the third most watched Korean animated film after “Speckles: The Tarbosaurus” with 1.05 million viewers and “Leafie: A Hen Into the Wild” (2011) with 2.2 million viewers. “Frozen 2" (2019) currently holds the title of most watched animation in domestic theaters with 13.7 million viewers.

“Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” is part of the TV animation franchise “Catch! Teenieping: Fairies of Emotion,” (2020-) which follows a magical girl named Romi catching mythical creatures called Teeniepings. The film focuses on a particular Teenieping named Heartsping, which is based on the emotion of love.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]