Sharing Tears Over a Fallen King: How One Film Drew Three Generations Back to Theaters

Director Jang Hang-jun’s film The King's Warden has become a sensation, drawing more than 11 million moviegoers. On the 6th, it became the 25th Korean film in history to surpass 10 million viewers, and over the weekend it added another 1 million, reaching this milestone on its 33rd day in theaters.
That pace is faster than Exhuma, which took 40 days, and 12.12: The Day, which took 36 days. With no major competitors on the horizon, some in the industry are predicting it could even reach 13 million viewers.
The popularity of The Man Who Lives With the King, which tells the tragic life story of King Danjong of Joseon, is spilling over into tourism and publishing. Around Jangneung Royal Tomb in Yeongwol County, where King Danjong is buried, visitor numbers have surged since the Lunar New Year holiday, pushing Yeongwol’s cumulative visitor count for the past two months well past 100,000. That is four months ahead of last year’s pace.
In the publishing sector, rising interest in King Danjong and the Joseon royal family has translated into book sales. According to Yes24, sales of books with the keyword “King Danjong” jumped 2,565.4% year-on-year in the month following the film’s release on the 4th of last month.
■ Hit born from collaboration between The Outlaws producer and a newcomer
The Man Who Lives With the King is a success story born from the synergy between the fresh planning of new production company Onda Works and the seasoned production know-how of BA Entertainment, co-producer of The Outlaws series. Showbox, which previously brought in 10 million viewers with Exhuma in the post-COVID era, once again scored with its distribution strategy.
The project began when Onda Works brought an initial draft by screenwriter Hwang Seon-gu, known for Anarchist from Colony and Little Forest, to director Jang Hang-jun. Because Onda Works effectively operates as a one-person company, BA Entertainment joined the production.
BA Entertainment CEO Jang Won-seok first met Jang in 1996 on the film The Adventures of Miss Park, where they worked together as a rookie writer and a junior production staffer, and have maintained their professional ties ever since.
Showbox PR team head Cho Soo-bin said of The Man Who Lives With the King, "The biggest factor was that the script was easy to read yet very compelling," adding, "The casting clicked as well, and for once, investment was decided without much disagreement."
The film is also considered unusual for the speed of its production. "It took less than a year from the start of principal photography in mid-March last year to its theatrical release," Cho noted.
Because it is a period drama suitable for family viewing, the team initially targeted the Lunar New Year holiday for release. However, with the director and cast having relatively modest box-office pull compared with competing titles, they moved the release up by a week. “The week before a major holiday is typically a slow period for theaters, but we chose to open early, build word-of-mouth, and then draw in audiences over the holiday,” Cho explained. According to CJ CGV, the age breakdown of viewers for The Man Who Lives With the King shows that people in their 40s accounted for the largest share at 27%, followed by those in their 30s at 25%, their 20s at 21%, and audiences 50 and older at 18%. Hwang Jae-hyun, head of strategy support at CJ CGV, commented, "What stands out is that the audience is evenly spread across age groups, rather than skewed toward a particular generation," and added, "As positive word-of-mouth spread after the release, the film’s viewer base gradually broadened." Shin Yoo-kyung, a film marketer who handled publicity for the 10-million-viewer hit The King and the Clown, described the success of The Man Who Lives With the King as "closer to a social phenomenon than a simple box-office hit." “This wasn’t just a case of audiences consuming a movie,” she explained. “People collectively responded to the emotions and sentiments the film stirred. It’s rare to see crowds heading straight to Yeongwol after watching a film.” She particularly noted, "These days, going to the movies during major holidays has itself taken on the character of a family event. Over the Lunar New Year, The Man Who Lives With the King was the safest choice for three generations to watch together." ■ For family audiences, distinct content matters more An investment industry insider viewed the film as "a case where the distinctiveness of the content moved audiences." “In today’s film market, the originality of the content and the strength of the story matter more than the size of the budget or the fame of the director and cast,” he said. “The film doesn’t just present the outcome of King Danjong’s death; it reinterprets the process and his human side from a new angle, which felt fresh to viewers.” He also pointed out, "Since the pandemic, annual theater attendance has been cut in half to around 100 million, and the average person now goes to the movies only about twice a year," adding, "In the past, when one 10-million-viewer film emerged, other movies released at the same time would benefit from its halo effect. That no longer happens." He cited this as evidence of growing polarization across the content industry in the post-COVID era. The Man Who Lives With the King is a mid-to-large-scale production with a budget in the 10-billion-won range. Will its success lead to more mid-budget films being made? “What really determines box-office performance is not the size of the budget, but how original and differentiated the story is,” the insider stressed. “In the end, only content built on diverse and distinctive IP will be able to pull audiences back into theaters.”
jashin@fnnews.com Reporter Shin Jin-a Reporter