Hit Film "The King's Warden" Drives 2,565% Surge in Books on King Danjong; Original Novel of "Pavane" Also in Demand

As the film "The King's Warden" nears the 10-million-viewer mark, interest in Danjong of Joseon, the sixth king of the Joseon Dynasty, and in the history of the royal family is spilling over into the book market, according to Financial News.
According to culture-content platform Yes24 on the 6th, sales of books tagged with the keyword "Danjong" jumped 2,565.4% in the month following the film’s release on February 4, compared with the same period a year earlier. The surge spans a wide range of genres, from children’s history books and the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty to the classic novel The Tragedy of King Danjong.

The Tragedy of King Danjong, a classic novel by Yi Kwang-su that depicts the king’s tragic life, is also back in the spotlight. Combined sales of all editions of The Tragedy of King Danjong released by various publishers since the film opened have risen by about 80 times compared with the same period last year (February 4 to March 3).
In particular, the edition of The Tragedy of King Danjong published this February by Saeum Publishing currently ranks first among books with the same title. From the start of sales, its weekly sales in the film’s third week of release (February 18–24) were up 336.8% from the previous week, and in the fourth week (February 25–March 3) they climbed another 18.1%, showing steady momentum. In print, it placed 35th in the fiction, poetry, and drama category on Yes24’s fourth-week-of-February chart, while the e-book ranked 28th in fiction.
An edition titled "First Edition The Tragedy of King Danjong," which restores the cover design of the 1954 first printing, is also drawing attention. This edition recreates the original 1954 first-edition cover from Bakmun Publishing and is sold on Yes24 as part of a "First Edition The Tragedy of King Danjong Set" that includes the exclusive "Letter from King Danjong" merchandise. Between February 26 and March 3, the set recorded more than double the sales of the standalone book.
The main buyers are people in their 40s and 50s with a strong interest in history, accounting for over 64% of total purchases. Readers in their 30s made up 17.7%, and those in their 20s 11.8%, indicating a fairly even spread across age groups.

Alongside the film’s success, Danjong-related keywords are gaining popularity in children’s history reading as well. The children’s history book The Young King’s Tears has become the top-selling title among books tagged with the Danjong key
word, with its sales soaring 4,614.3% year-on-year. It also ranked ninth in the children’s category on Yes24’s fourth-week-of-February (February 23–March 1) bestseller list, reflecting strong interest.
Another recent release, Naked Korean History 12: The Ill-Fated Siblings, King Danjong and Princess Gyeonghye, also showed a 275% week-on-week increase in the film’s third week of release (February 18–24), underscoring the heightened curiosity about Danjong’s story.
Sales are rising across historical works on the Joseon royal line as well. Annals of the Joseon Dynasty 3: Sejong, Munjong, Danjong saw sales jump by about 800% (roughly ninefold) compared with a year earlier. The Sorrow of Danjong, the Tears of Sejong, which examines Danjong’s tragic fate and the political climate at court after the reign of King Sejong, climbed about 2,700% (around 28 times) over the same period.
Cho Sun-young, head of the book division at Yes24, said, "Cultural content such as films and TV dramas continues to spark interest in particular historical figures or events, and this in turn leads readers to seek out and read related books."

The trend of rising sales for original novels following film and TV adaptations is continuing.
According to Kyobo Book Centre’s bestseller rankings for the last week of February, released on the 6th, Park Min-gyu’s novel Pavane for a Dead Princess ranked 13th overall. First published in 2009, the book was recently adapted into a Netflix film and has since started to climb back up the charts, jumping 10 spots in just one week.
The original novel Project Hail Mary, which shares its title with the upcoming film, also rose eight places to reach 25th overall. Project Hail Mary is one of the space trilogy works by Andy Weir, author of The Martian, which was also adapted into a film.
Kyobo Book Centre added that sales of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights have recently increased on the back of a new film release, demonstrating the enduring power of classic literature.

jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-ah Reporter