The film "Informant," which has been praised for the contrasting chemistry between Heo Seong-tae and Jo Bok-rae and the passionate performances of its charming cast, raised expectations that it will dominate theaters at year-end after reaching second place in overall advance ticket sales two days before release.
The film "Informant" follows Nam-hyeok Oh (Heo Seong-tae), a former ace detective who lost his passion, will and investigative instincts after being demoted, and informant Tae-bong Jo (Jo Bok-rae), who had been pocketing blind money by providing information on major cases, as they accidentally get involved in a big scheme, leading to a crime action comedy set to open this week on Wednesday, Dec. 3, and signs of box-office success for "Informant" look significant.
According to the integrated ticketing system for movie theaters, as of 10:44 a.m. on Dec. 1, "Informant" has held the top advance ticket sales spot among Korean films and simultaneous releases since Friday, Nov. 28, and maintained that position through its opening week, now ranking second in overall advance ticket sales behind "Zootopia 2." This achievement is more meaningful because it surpassed not only strong competitors opening the same day such as "The Upstairs Neighbors," "Concrete Market," and "Jujutsu Kaisen the Movie: Shibuya Incident X Extinction Reincarnation," but also films that continued their success after opening in November riding their predecessors' fan bases like "Wicked: For Good" and "Now You See Me 3."
Above all, "Informant" attracted attention from audiences even before its release because it is a comedy well suited to the year-end season for families, friends and couples to watch together. Moreover, advance word of mouth about the film has been spreading following the first audience screening held on Thursday, Nov. 20, the VIP screening on Friday, Nov. 28, and the premiere screenings held on Saturday, Nov. 29 and Sunday, Nov. 30, increasing anticipation for "Informant"'s box-office performance after release.
Audiences who saw "Informant" at the screenings praised Heo Seong-tae, Jo Bok-rae and the other actors' comic performances and the film's cheerful comedy, saying, "Heo Seong-tae's action and comedy and the actors' chemistry were great," "I watched it trusting Heo Seong-tae's acting skills!," "It completely relieves stress and the ending is so refreshing and fun!," "It's been a long time since I've seen a Korean film where the actors' charm explodes like this," "a laugh-out-loud hit for the year-end," and "a movie that's enjoyable to watch with family!"
Furthermore, on Thursday, Nov. 27, it won the best foreign-language film award at the 2025 Asia International Film Festival, amplifying audience expectations by being recognized overseas. In addition, audiences are sending support for the actors' passion and sincerity through energetic promotional activities by Heo Seong-tae, who is taking his first lead role on screen, as well as Jo Bok-rae and Seo Min-ju.
The film "Informant," which lit a green light for box-office success by reaching second place in overall advance ticket sales, opens on Dec. 3.
[Photo] movie poster, integrated ticketing system for movie theaters
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