Period drama The King’s Warden has led the box office in South Korea for an eighth consecutive week and extended its lead as the highest-grossing film of all time in the country.
The film took $3.35m from 511,896 admissions over the weekend (March 27-29), reaching $99.4m from 15.6 million admissions since its release on February 4, according to tracking service Kobis.
It topped 10 million admissions on March 5, surpassing the symbolic landmark that serves as the Korean film industry’s definitive marker of a blockbuster, and will next hit the $100m milestone.
After becoming South Korea’s biggest ever title in terms of revenue – surpassing the $93.7m taken by Extreme Job in 2019 – it now has its sights set on second place in terms of admissions, which is the country’s main measure when it comes to box office. The leaders are 2014’s The Admiral: Roaring Currents on 17.6 million and 2019’s Extreme Job on 16.26 million. The King’s Warden needs to add just under 650,000 admissions to take second place.
Directed by Chang Hang-jun, the film is set in 1457 during the Joseon Dynasty and tells the story of a village chief who accepts the deposed teenage King Danjong into his remote mountain village, unaware of the political turmoil and danger to follow. It is set for release in the US, UK and Ireland, and several key Asian territories following sales by South Korea’s Showbox.
The film claimed a 42% market share at the local box office over the weekend, keeping Hollywood feature Project Hail Mary from the top slot. The science-fiction feature, starring Ryan Gosling, ranked second with takings of $3m from 391,882 admissions. It has earned $8.6m from 1.15 million admissions since its release on March 18.
In third, Japanese anime Detective Conan The Movie: The Last Wizard Of The Century debuted with $330,000 from 48,467 admissions for a cume of $350,000 (51,932 admissions).
Disney/Pixar animation Hoppers came fourth, adding $290,000 (44,424 admissions) for a cume of $4.6m (708,087) since its release on March 4.
Rounding out the top five was blockbuster Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle Arc. Re-released on March 25, it added $187,000 (22,875 admissions) for a cume of $40.7m (5.73 million admissions). The film originally opened in South Korea on August 22 and ranked as the second biggest film of 2025, only behind US animation Zootopia 2.
