Colony, distributed by SHOWBOX and directed by Yeon Sang-ho, is on the verge of surpassing 5 million cumulative admissions. As of noon on the 12th, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) integrated computer network for movie theater tickets showed cumulative admissions at 4.91 million, and it is expected to top 5 million over the weekend. As of the 12th, Colony's cumulative box office revenue stands at 51.9 billion won, and excluding production costs, it could yield revenue of roughly more than 30 billion won.
According to the industry on the 14th, the company drawing attention on the back of Colony's success is none other than the film distributor SHOWBOX. That is thanks to the feat of scoring four consecutive hits this year including Colony. According to the 2026 first-quarter Korea film industry settlement of account KOFIC released recently, SHOWBOX rolled out Jang Hang-jun's The King's Warden to start the year, followed in succession by Once We Were Us and Salmokji, delivering strong results.
In particular, the film Salmokji is a representative low-budget title that invested only about 3 billion won in production costs, yet its cumulative admissions have surpassed 3.2 million. Its gross alone is roughly 33 billion won. As a result, SHOWBOX recorded total film revenue of 173.6 billion won and a 55.4% market share, topping the distributor rankings at No. 1.
Amid a struggling film market, SHOWBOX secured a string of hits and even finalized special performance bonuses for its employees. The industry says the bonuses are larger than expected. A SHOWBOX official said, "We ended up receiving a bigger reward than expected, in line with the results."
In the film industry, Shin Ho-jung, appointed as SHOWBOX's CEO in Aug. 2023, is being credited with successfully turning the company back to profit. Shin is a management planning expert who served as Head of Team for management planning and Head of Team for management support at Orion Holdings. Given the nature of film distribution, Shin's management decisions have been reflected starting with movies released this year. An industry insider said, "Shin is more of a management expert than a film expert, and perhaps because of that, it seems the decisions were made rationally from the audience's perspective rather than focusing on artistry."
SHOWBOX is an Orion Group affiliate in charge of the film business, with Orion Holdings holding 57.4% equity. It was established in June 1999 as Mediaplex, then split into Megabox for theater operations and SHOWBOX for film investment and distribution. In 2007, it sold the Megabox theater business and has since focused solely on distribution.
A content industry insider said, "With the theater industry mired in a prolonged slump due to competition with over-the-top (OTT) platforms and even major players like CJ ENM suffering box office woes, SHOWBOX's streak of hits is unusual," adding, "In a film market with growing uncertainty, this is being evaluated as the result of accurately reading what audiences want."