South Korea clocked a 41.9% improve in field workplace income within the first half of 2026, in response to figures launched right now by the Korean Movie Council (KOFIC), pushed by native hits together with The King’s Warden, Colony and Salmokji: Whispering Water.
KOFIC figures reveal that total field workplace from January to June 2026 reached $396.6M (KRW579BN), in comparison with $279M (KRW408BN) in the identical interval final yr. Admissions additionally elevated in the course of the interval – up by 34.2%, in comparison with the primary half of final yr, to succeed in an encouraging 57 million.
Korean movies powered the restoration with a whopping 81.7% year-on-year improve in income to $254M (KRW370.2BN) and a 74.9% improve in admissions to 37.37 million.
In comparison with pre-pandemic ranges, income for Korean movies recovered to 94.2% of the typical in the course of the first halves of 2017–2019 (KRW392.9BN). Korean movies additionally accounted for a 63.9% market share of total income and 65.5% in admissions.
The King’s Warden, Jang Grasp-jun’s interval drama starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Ji-hoon and Yoo Ji-tae, topped the primary half yr field workplace with $111.7M (KRW163.1BN) from 16.9 million ticket gross sales, additionally changing into the highest-grossing Korean movie of all time. It’s additionally the primary Korean title in two years to cross the ten million admissions benchmark and is second of all time by way of admissions behind The Admiral: Roaring Currents.
Korean movies additionally took the quantity two and three positions within the first half yr chart – Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller Colony, which premiered in Cannes Midnight Screenings, grossed $41M (KRW60.5BN) whereas low-budget horror Salmokji: Whispering Water pulled in $22.8M (KRW33.3BN).
International movies noticed a 2.3% improve in income in the course of the January-June interval, with a mixed $143M (KRW208.8BN), however ticket gross sales decreased by 6.9% to 19.68 million. Mission Hail Mary was the highest-grossing import with $22.6M (KRW33BN) adopted by Avatar: Hearth And Ash and Michael. A24’s Backrooms was the highest-grossing indie movie amongst each native and overseas releases with $8.5M (KRW12.4BN) in income and 1.16 million admissions.
KOFIC figures additionally revealed the rising significance of particular format screenings with income from manufacturers together with IMAX, 4D, ScreenX and Dolby Cinema rising by 56.3% year-on-year to $31.3M (KRW45.7bn) and powering a giant chunk of the field workplace for Avatar: Hearth And Ash and Mission Hail Mary.
Korean studio Showbox, which launched all the prime three movies, was the largest distributor in the course of the interval with a 48.6% market share, adopted by Disney which ranked second with a 13.8% market share.
