[HanCinema's News] May Box Office Best Ever for Domestic South Korean Films

The Korean Film Council just released their full report about May at the South Korean box office. According to the report, May 2019 was the best May ever for Korean films at the South Korean box office. The total number of patrons for May this year was 8.61 million, a 69.1% jump from last year.

The dominance was due, in part, to a lack of real competition from foreign films. "Avengers: Endgame" was a holdover from April, and the "Aladdin" remake had a relatively weak opening, although it has since rebounded and is currently outperforming the new "Men in Black" film in online reservations.

South Korean films, in the meantime, covered very diverse genre spread. "Miss and Mrs. Cops" earned 1.61 million viewers as a police themed comedy, while "Inseparable Bros" had 1.43 million viewers as a heartwarming comedy drama built around persons with handicaps. "The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil" added 3.17 million viewers as a mostly serious crime film.

The art house film "Parasite", which opened on May 30th, earned 1.2 million admissions in its first two days in the box office. The bulk of its admissions came during June. "Parasite" is still doing well at the box office, facing "Aladdin" as its main competition going into its third weekend.

Written by William Schwartz

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"The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil" is directed by Lee Won-tae, and features Ma Dong-seok, Kim Moo-yul, Kim Sung-gyu, Yoo Seung-mok, Choi Min-chul, Kim Yoon-sung. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/15.

"Miss and Mrs. Cops" is directed by Jung Da-won, and features Ra Mi-ran, Lee Sung-kyung, Yoon Sang-hyun, Choi Soo-young, Yum Hye-ran, Wi Ha-joon. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/09.

"Inseparable Bros" is directed by Yook Sang-hyo, and features Shin Ha-kyun, Lee Kwang-soo, Esom, Park Chul-min, Kwon Hae-hyo, Gil Hae-yeon. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/01.

"Parasite" is directed by Bong Joon-ho, and features Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Jo Yeo-jung, Choi Wooshik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/30.