Director Ryu Seung-wan’s new film "HUMINT" posted a disappointing showing over the Lunar New Year holiday.
According to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracker on the 19th, "HUMINT" drew 980,144 moviegoers from the 14th to the 18th, finishing No. 2 for the period. Its cumulative admissions now stand at 1,284,871.
"HUMINT", which opened on the 11th, debuted at No. 1 on day one but ceded the top spot the very next day to rival "The King's Warden". Across the five-day holiday, the gap widened to nearly three times, keeping "HUMINT" locked in second place. In the same window, "The King's Warden" pulled in 2.66 million viewers and pushed past 4 million total admissions.
Set in the icy port of Vladivostok―where even secrets and truths sink to the cold sea―"HUMINT" follows a clash between people with colliding agendas. The film stars Zo In-sung, Park Jung-min, Shin Sae-kyoung, and Park Hae-joon, and is directed by Ryu Seung-wan. Pre-sales topped 180,000 before release, but word of mouth split after opening weekend, slowing momentum. By contrast, in its second week, "The King's Warden" surged on strong buzz and dominated holiday traffic.
As an action title, "HUMINT" targeted premium formats like IMAX and Dolby Atmos to lift revenue, but it lost ground in overall admissions and surrendered the lead. A rebound over the second weekend is now crucial.
However, "The King's Warden" currently holds a 49.3% pre-sale share with 150,000 tickets, far ahead of "HUMINT"’s 17.7% share and 50,000 pre-sold tickets. Those figures heavily influence screen allocation, making it tough for "HUMINT" to reverse course after a tilted first week.
With a production budget of 23.5 billion won, "HUMINT"’s break-even point is around 4 million admissions.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)
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