First-Half Box Office Revenue Hits 579 Billion Won... Korean Films Drive Recovery

'A Man Who Lives with the King' Records Highest Box Office Revenue Ever,

Audience Numbers Up 34%

Korean films drove the recovery of the cinema industry in the first half of this year.

Movie poster of The King and the Living Man.

According to the "2026 First Half Korean Film Industry Report" published by the Korean Film Council on July 29, total box office revenue in the first half reached 579 billion won, with 57.05 million admissions. Compared to the same period last year, these figures represent an increase of 41.9% and 34.2%, respectively.

For Korean films alone, revenue hit 370.2 billion won and admissions reached 37.37 million, marking an increase of 81.7% and 74.9% each. These are the highest first-half figures since the pandemic (global pandemic), and have recovered to 94.2% of the average first-half revenues posted in the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019).

Foreign films saw 19.68 million admissions, a 6.9% decrease. However, boosted by the success of special-format screenings of titles such as Project Hail Mary and Avatar: The Way of Water, box office revenue grew slightly by 2.3% to 208.8 billion won.

The biggest box office hit in the first half was The King and the Living Man, which topped the all-time box office revenue chart with 163.1 billion won. Korean films dominated the top of the rankings, with Gunche (60.5 billion won) and Salmokji (33.3 billion won) ranking second and third, respectively.

Revenue from special-format screenings rose 56.3% year-on-year to 45.7 billion won, accounting for 7.9% of total box office revenue. The average ticket price increased by 551 won to 10,150 won.

Among distributors, Showbox ranked first with a 48.6% market share (281.4 billion won), thanks to distributing The King and the Living Man, Gunche, Salmokji, and If We. Walt Disney Company Korea, which distributed nine titles including Avatar: The Way of Water, took second place with a 13.8% share (43.1 billion won).

The top-grossing independent/art-house film was the low-budget horror title Backroom, earning 12.4 billion won. Ran 12·3 and My Name Is followed in succession.

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