The Man Who Lives with the King Sets a New All-Time Revenue Record, Driving a Historic Rebound at Theaters... Revenue Up 58%

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[The Financial News] The box-office success of "The King's Warden" has fueled a recovery in the theater market, with first-quarter revenue and attendance this year reaching their highest levels since the pandemic.
According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) on the 29th, total first-quarter revenue came to 318 billion won and attendance reached 31.9 million, the highest first-quarter figures since 2020. Driven by the success of "The Man Who Lives with the King," "Once We Were Us," and "Avatar: Fire and Ash," revenue rose 58.7% year on year, or 117.7 billion won, while attendance increased 53.2%, or 11.08 million.
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In particular, the mega-hit "The Man Who Lives with the King," which ranked first in all-time revenue, pushed Korean film revenue share to 73.4%. Along with the long-running success of the mid-budget film "Once We Were Us," Korean film revenue in the first quarter reached 233.3 billion won and attendance totaled 24.01 million, more than doubling from a year earlier.
By contrast, foreign film revenue and attendance fell for a third consecutive year in the first quarter. Although "Avatar: Fire and Ash" and "Project Hail Mary" performed well, especially in premium-format theaters, foreign film revenue for the quarter came to 84.7 billion won and attendance to 7.89 million. That marked declines of 9.0%, or 8.4 billion won, and 18.3%, or 1.77 million, respectively, from a year earlier.
By title, "The King's Warden" ranked first overall in first-quarter box office performance with 151.8 billion won in revenue and 15.73 million admissions. It was followed by "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which posted 26.5 billion won in revenue and 2.18 million admissions. In particular, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" generated 13.2 billion won in premium-format revenue, accounting for 49.9% of its total, and topped that category.
Among distributors, Showbox took first place with 176.3 billion won in revenue, a 55.4% share, thanks to three titles including "The King's Warden" and "Once We Were Us." The Walt Disney Company Korea ranked second after distributing five films, including "Avatar: Fire and Ash," "Zootopia 2," and "Hoppers," and recorded 43.1 billion won in revenue, or a 13.6% share.
jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-a Reporter