2026 new year movie season will bring cheerful energy and laughter with the film Heartman (director Choi Won-seop, distributed/provided by Lotte Entertainment, produced by Movierock, Like M Company) which, after its release, alongside Once We Were Us, is leading the charge for Korean film box office success, and Heartman is expected to show the power of comedy word-of-mouth by recording the highest Golden Egg score since My Daughter is a Zombie.
Heartman, the first comedy of happy energy set to heat up the 2026 new year movie season, opened on its first day at No. 1 at the box office among films released at the same time, and word-of-mouth began to slowly intensify.
Heartman, recording a CGV Golden Egg score of 90%, achieved the highest figure following My Daughter is a Zombie, the top-grossing Korean film of 2025 with 92%. This is identical to the 90% of director Choi Won-seop and Kwon Sang-woo's previous film Hitman (2020), and is overwhelmingly higher compared with comedies released in 2025 such as Hitman 2 at 82%, Boss at 84%, and First Ride at 82%.
Heartman, which is foreshadowing the passionate audience support of word-of-mouth, reunites director Choi Won-seop of the Hitman series and Kwon Sang-woo to once again combine forces with attractive actors such as Moon Chae-won, Park Ji-hwan, Pyo Jihoon, and child actor Kim Seo-hun to complete a comic chemistry. Exceeding expectations and spreading by word-of-mouth, Heartman is ranked No. 1 among films released at the same time and, together with Once We Were Us, is putting energy into the upward momentum of Korean films in the 2026 year of the red horse.
The film Heartman follows the returning man Seung-min (Kwon Sang-woo), who struggles to not lose his reunited first love, but a secret he can never tell her leads to comedic events. Heartman, a film that will deliver bright energy to the 2026 new year movie season, is now playing nationwide in theaters.
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