"12.12: The Day", a historical film about South Korea's military coup in 1979, dominated the country's box office, attracting more than 5 million moviegoers on the 14th day of its release.
The political drama thriller, which is inspired by real events, depicts the nine hours of efforts to stop a military coup orchestrated by Chun Doo-kwang, head of the Defense Security Command, on December 12, 1979.
The film reached the 1 million ticket sales mark on the fourth day of release, 2 million on the sixth, 3 million on the 10th, 4 million on the 12th, and 5 million on the 14th.
After reaching the 4 million mark, the film has become the fastest this year to reach the milestone, surpassing the records set by films such as "Concrete Utopia" and "Smugglers."
It is also the only Korean film to surpass the 5 million mark since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. The previous highest-grossing Korean film released after the pandemic was "The Man Standing Next", which attracted a total of 4.75 million moviegoers.
This article was originally published on Dec. 5, 2023.