The local box office recorded the highest annual ticket sales in history with over 224.6 million as of Saturday. Yonhap



'Extreme Job,' Disney movies attract viewers to movie houses



By Lee Gyu-lee



The local box office scored record-breaking ticket sales of all time this year in Korean cinema history, grossing 224.6 million sales as of Saturday, according to the Korean Film Council. This surpassed the previous record in 2017 by about 5 million.



Annual ticket sales have hovered around 210 million for the past six years since first surpassing 200 million in 2013, gaining a foothold as one of the largest film markets in Asia.



This year five films, a new record, exceeded 10 million ticket sales, which became the mark of success since military blockbuster "Silmido" (2003) became the first film locally with massive ticket sales.



Two film distributing powerhouses CJ ENM and Walt Disney Company were neck and neck on the films with over 10 million sales. CJ ENM scored two ― "Extreme Job" and "Parasite" ― and Walt Disney counted three ― "Avengers: Endgame," "Frozen 2," and "Aladdin."



Among the list, the comedy film "Extreme Job" ― released on Jan. 23 ― scored highest and became the second-most watched film of all time. The 6.5 billion won ($5.6 million) budget film grossed 139 billion won ($120 million) with 16 million tickets sold. This success came as a surprise, considering its screening coincided with several big-budget films released around the same time, including "Hit-and-Run Squad," and "Alita: Battle Angel."



Having an exceedingly prosperous year with record revenue in the global box office, the Walt Disney Company has seen the year out with "Frozen 2" a worldwide sensation, including Korea. As of Sunday, the Frozen sequel has attracted over 11 million ticket sales and is increasing as the film is still competing on the local box office chart. The film took the fourth spot on the weekend chart.





Posters for "Ashfall," from left, "Forbidden Dream," and "Start-Up" which scored top three on the weekend local box office respectively. Courtesy of CJ ENM, Lotte Entertainment, and NEW