'Haerbin' Seen by 4 Million... Struggling to Break Even Due to 'Lack of Finishing Power'

Weekend Box Office Results

Still from the movie 'Haerbin'. Provided by CJ ENM

The movie 'Haerbin' surpassed 4 million viewers during its third weekend since release. However, it seems somewhat challenging to break even.

According to the Korea Film Council's integrated box office data on the 13th, over the past weekend (10th to 12th), 'Haerbin' (directed by Woo Min-ho) attracted 308,018 viewers, securing the number one spot at the box office. Its revenue share was 37.5%. Since its release on the 24th of last month, the cumulative audience reached 4,180,433.

The film depicts An Jung-geun and the independence fighters' operation to assassinate Ito Hirobumi, the Resident-General of Korea, in Harbin, China. It drew 1 million viewers by the second day, 2 million by the fifth day, and 3 million by the ninth day. It effectively attracted audiences in a year-end theater market with little competition, but weekday attendance dropped to around 50,000, signaling a decline.

During the crucial third weekend, it only gathered about 300,000 viewers. With new releases scheduled for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of this month, it is expected that the audience numbers will decline further. Originally, 'Haerbin's break-even point was known to be 6.5 million viewers, but CJ ENM unusually announced on the 11th through a press release that "due to successful overseas sales and additional rights contracts, the break-even point has been reduced to 5.8 million viewers."

The second place went to 'Firefighter' (directed by Kwak Kyung-taek), which attracted 88,817 viewers. Its cumulative audience is 3,702,985. 'Donghwajiman Cheongbulimnida' (directed by Lee Jong-seok), released on the 8th, started in third place with 65,569 viewers.

Fourth place was the animation 'Pororo the Movie: The Great Adventure Under the Sea' (56,149 viewers), fifth was 'Super Sonic 3' (54,161 viewers), and sixth was 'Bogota: The Land of Last Chance' (33,980 viewers). The total number of viewers who visited theaters over the weekend was 828,344.