The Korean zombie film “#Alive,” starring Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye, has topped the box office in South Korea as cinema attendance continued to rise despite the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“#Alive” premiered on June 24 in South Korea and has became No. 1 in the daily, weekly and monthly box office.
From the pre-opening screening on June 23 until July 1, “#Alive” has sold 1,246,650 tickets and grossed $8.63 million at the box office in nine days, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
It topped the weekend box office from June 26 to 28, selling 702,956 tickets and grossing $5.23 million with a revenue share of 72.28 percent among all films shown during the period.
In the monthly box office, “#Alive” rose to the No. 1 spot with total admission of 1.19 million and revenue of $8.27 million.
The Korean film industry continues to experience an increase in cinema attendance as people tried to go back to their normal lives amid the COVID-19 scare.
Cinema attendance in June totaled 3.86 million, an increase of 153 percent, or 2.33 million, compared to May’s 1.52 million. But this is just 17 percent of cinema attendance in June 2019, which had 22.84 million.
Revenues in June 2020 totaled 32.76 billion won (about $27.25 million or P1.35 billion), an increase of 164 percent compared to May 2020’s 12.39 billion won ($10.3 million or P514 million). In June 2019, revenues totaled 195.23 billion won, about $162 million or P8 billion.
“#Alive” is about a city besieged by an unknown virus and Joon-woo, played by Yoo Ah-in, becomes isolated in his apartment and communication means such as the internet and phone are cut off. Another survivor across his apartment building is Yoo-bin, played by Park Shin-hye. They work together to stay alive.