Lim Young-woong Concert Film Takes Weekend Honors

Concert film, “Lim Young Woong IM HERO The Stadium” was the top-grossing film at the South Korean cinema box office over the latest weekend, ahead of conventional narrative movies ‘Alien: Romulus” and “Pilot.”

Data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic) show “IM HERO” to have earned $1.89 million between Friday and Sunday and $3.47 million over its five-day opening frame. “Alien: Romulus” earned $1.66 million in its third weekend and has a 19-day cumulative of $12.5 million.

However, local convention allocates chart ranking according to spectator numbers. According to that logic, “Alien: Romulus” held its lead for a third weekend, having sold a further 223,000 tickets, compared with the 87,000 tickets sold for “IM HERO.” The difference is explained by the concert film’s significantly higher ticket prices.

Lim, who mostly sings ballads and trot songs, emerged on to the scene in a 2020 TV talent show. With good looks and a wholesome, healthy image, he has since acquired superstar status and a Taylor Swift-like fan following in Korea.

The film captures his performances over two days at Seoul World Cup Stadium in May, inter-spliced with documentary coverage of months of preparations and the performances’ behind the scenes footage. Over five days, the film was watched by some 161,000 spectators, significantly more than attended the two live shows.

Comedy hit, “Pilot” earned $906,000 in its fifth weekend. That put it in third place by revenue (or second by ticket sales). Since releasing on July 31, it has accumulated $31 million (and 4.51 million ticket sales), confirming its position as the fourth biggest film of the year.

Ticket sales volumes caused another twist in the chart. “Twisters” took fourth place by revenues. It earned $555,000 in its third weekend of release. That gives it a cumulative total of $4.32 million.
Korean animation film “Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” slipped to fifth position (but held fourth according to spectator numbers, due to its high volume of children’s price tickets)) It earned $511,000 over the weekend for a four-weekend cumulative of $5.98 million.

Korean-produced horror-thriller “Spring Garden” took sixth place with $500,000 over the weekend. After 12-days on release, its cumulative total is $2.37 million.

A re-release of Derek Tsang’s Hong Kong and China-made youth film “Better Days” earned $343,000 over the weekend and took seventh place.

Korean feel-good cheerleading film “Victory” earned $319,000 in its third weekend of release. Its cumulative is now $2.58 million.

Korean, political thriller “Land of Happiness” earned $186,000 in ninth position. After three weekends, the film has accumulated $4.77 million.

Drama and book-to-film adaptation “Because I Hate Korea” opened in tenth place with $131,000 over the weekend and $260,000 over its full, opening five days. The picture had been the opening title of last year’s Busan International Film Festival.

The weekend’s aggregate box office was $7.97 million, down 15% week-on-week.

The latest data confirms how the once mighty Korean box office has retreated this summer and, more generally, struggled to recover in the post-COVID era. August box office was worth KRW117 million ($87.4 million), which was 19% lower than August 2023. July box office was KRW115 million, down from KRW140 million.