Showbox Laughs With 'The Prince' Proves Theater Possibility "Good Content Is the Answer" [★FOCUS]

*This content was translated by AI.

With "The Man Who Lives With the King" topping 14 million viewers and ranking fifth in the box office all-time, Showbox is creating a turnaround in the theater industry, which has been dampened by a series of box office hits.

"The Man Who Lives with the King" surpassed 14 million viewers on the 20th, beating "Avengers: Endgame" (13.977,409) to rank fifth in the box office of all time. If this trend continues, it will be easy to reach 15 million viewers, and it is looking beyond that.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the movie that attracted the largest number of Korean movies was "Seoul Spring" (1,312,8080). "The Man Who Lives With The King" went beyond this and set a milestone for the largest number of Korean movies released since the pandemic.

Distributor Showbox will have its seventh 10 million movies after "Taegeukgi Flying" (2004), "The Host" (2006), "The Thieves" (2012), "Capture" (2015), "Taxi Driver" (2017) and "Pillow" (2024).

After the COVID-19 pandemic, "Pillow" exceeded 10 million viewers in 2024, but last year, films that released "Lobby" (260,000), "Soju War" (280,000), and "First Ride" (740,000) achieved below expectations. However, this year's melodrama "If We" surpassed 2.6 million people, and even "The Man Who Lives with the King" succeeded in succession, recovering sales that dropped sharply last year.

Regarding the box office success factors of "The Man Who Lives with the King," a Showbox official said, "I think the message that the whole generation can enjoy together and the subject matter that can elicit universal empathy were the factors that were greatly loved by the audience."

"I think it was also the first work that focused on life since King Danjong's exile, which was mainly seen as the 'King of Unlucky', that attracted the audience's attention. "I also think that the fact that it is a work that adds cinematic imagination to the tragedy of a young king that history has not paid tribute to has drawn deep immersion from many people," he said.

He also added, "As it was released ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, word of mouth of the audience greatly influenced the holiday score, and the actors who showed outstanding performances actively communicated with the audience through stage greetings outside the screen also became a hot topic, leading to a steady box office success."

In addition, Showbox is set to release this year's horror film Salmokji, Yeon Sang-ho's new film and actor Jeon Ji-hyun's return to the screen, and the psychological thriller "Heavy Snow" starring Kim Yoon-seok and Koo Kyung-hwan.

An official told Star News, "If there is good content, we are convinced that the act of viewing in theaters can still attract consumers."

"This year's showbox was introduced, and the films to be presented include various genres such as melodrama, historical drama, horror, and thriller, and we are attempting to adapt to the changed theater industry through these attempts," he said. "Rather than trying to follow the existing success grammar, I am thinking about the possibility of the work itself and how new fun this story can give."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.