"All or Nothing Reviews? Record-Breaking 'Hope' Surpasses 3 Million Viewers with Divided Opinions"

Second-Fastest Release to Surpass 3 Million This Year After "Colony"
Word-of-Mouth Fueled by Polarized Reviews... Pace of Audience Growth Slowing

Na Hong-jin's science fiction film "Hope" has surpassed 3 million viewers.

Director Na Hong-jin (right) of the movie "Hope" and the cast including Jo In-sung, Um Moon-suk, Jung Ho-yeon, and Hwang Jung-min (from left) are celebrating surpassing 3 million viewers. Plus M Entertainment

On July 25, the film's distributor, Plus M Entertainment, announced that "Hope" exceeded 3 million admissions as of this afternoon, just 11 days after its release. This is one day later than the zombie movie "Swarm" (directed by Yeon Sang-ho), which reached the 3 million mark in just 10 days and previously held the title for the fastest movie this year to surpass 3 million viewers.

Including "Hope," only four films released this year have surpassed 3 million viewers: "Hope", "The Man Who Lives with the King", "Swarm", and "A Place to Kill".

"Hope" has sparked great interest, with audience reviews sharply divided between very favorable and unfavorable ratings.

Since its release on July 15, "Hope" has continuously topped the box office charts, maintaining its popularity. It drew 1 million viewers in just three days and reached 2 million in just five days, making it the fastest film to gather such audiences this year. However, while last week’s weekday audience numbers ranged from 200,000 to 300,000, this week’s weekday figures have dropped to the 100,000 range. As of 2 p.m. on the 25th, in the real-time ticket reservation rankings, "Hope" is in second place (230,000 tickets, 26%), following "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which is set to be released on the 29th (440,000 tickets, 48%).

"Hope" tells the story that unfolds when an unknown extraterrestrial life form appears near Hopo Port in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This is Director Na's first new work in ten years since "The Wailing" (2016). Hwang Jung-min, Jo In-sung, and Jung Ho-yeon performed intense action scenes, and Hollywood actors such as Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell also star in the film.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.