First 2023 Film to Hit the Milestone

The South Korean action comedy film The Roundup: No Way Out on Saturday became the first movie released in the country this year to surpass 10 million admissions.

The third installment of the crime action franchise starring Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) reached the milestone on the 32nd day since its release, according to its distributor ABO Entertainment.No Way Out kept breaking records at the local box office by drawing over 740,000 viewers on the opening day and garnering over 6 million in the first week. It topped a cumulative 8 million admissions on the 14th day and 9 million admissions on the 21st day.

Posters for South Korean action comedy film The Roundup: No Way Out are displayed on digital screens at a Seoul theater, in this file photo taken June 11, 2023. (Yonhap) 

It broke the milestone after its predecessor, The Roundup, surpassed 10 million admissions last year to become the first movie to achieve the feat since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Outlaws, the first installment of the crime action series, attracted 6.87 million viewers in 2017.

In the country with a population of some 50 million, films that sell over 10 million tickets are considered a huge success. It is Ma's fifth film that has garnered over 10 million admissions following Train to Busan (2016), Along with the Gods (2017-2018), and The Roundup (2022), making him one of the most bankable actors in the Korean cinema industry.

By Kim Eun-jung