SEOUL — The South Korean box office drew 98.5 million moviegoers in the first half of 2013, a record for the local cinema industry for that period.
The figure is an improvement of 18.3 percent over last year’s first-half attendance of 83.26 million.
Homegrown movies attracted a majority of admissions: 56.4 percent. That’s 55.55 million moviegoers, also a record number for South Korea. Compared with last year’s January-June time frame, the number rose by 11.09 million, or 25 percent.
A total of 390 films were released in South Korean theaters during the first half of the year, among which 70 were Korean. Six of the top 10 titles were Korean. Miracle in Cell No. 7 topped the list, becoming the second-highest-grossing homegrown film in Korean box office history.
Here is a look at the country’s top 10 grossing films for January through June 2013:
1. Miracle in Cell No. 7, 12.80 million admissions, NEW
2. Iron Man 3, 9.00 million, Sony Pictures Releasing Buena Vista
3. The Berlin File, 7.16 million, CJ E&M
4. Secretly Greatly, 6.64 million, Showbox/Mediaplex
5. New World, 4.68 million, NEW
6. Man on the Edge, 3.89 million, Showbox/Mediaplex
7. World War Z, 3.19 million, Lotte Entertainment
8. Tower, 3.16 million, CJ E&M
9. Les Miserables, 2.70 million, Universal Pictures
10. Man of Steel, 2.13 million, Warner Brothers
