Na Hong-jin’s action thriller Hope has scored South Korea’s biggest opening day of the year to date.
The film recorded 333,915 cinemagoers on Wednesday (July 15), debuting at number one at the box office. It earned nearly $2.5m (KRW3.67bn) from 2,403 screens and accounted for 81.3% of total box-office sales that day, according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic).
It surpassed the previous biggest opening day of 2026, held by Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller Colony, which drew 199,762 admissions and made $1.4m when it opened on May 21 – since going on to earn $42.1m.
Hope had already set pre-sale records, reaching number one faster than any other release this year and accounting for 62.5% of all advance ticket sales nationwide, with more than 555,000 bookings to date. Its closest rival, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has a 11.3% share of advance ticket sales.
The film is on track to become director Na’s biggest title to date and one of the top performers of the year in South Korea. His 2008 debut The Chaser grossed $22.9m with more than 5 million admissions while second feature The Yellow Sea took $11.8m in 2010. Na’s previous release, The Wailing, grossed $37.6m from almost 7 million admissions in 2016.
Hope, which reportedly has the biggest ever budget for a Korean film at around $46m (KRW70bn), premiered in Competition at Cannes.
The story follows a police chief in a remote village near Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, as a mysterious discovery turns into a desperate fight for survival against otherworldly monsters.
The cast is led by Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung and Jung Ho-yeon alongside Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton. Producers are Na, Saemi Kim and Saerom Kim for Korea’s Forged Films. Co-producers are Plus M Entertainment and Westworld.
After scoring pre-sales to more than 200 territories, the film is beginning its international rollout and is set to screen at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 20, where director Na will receive the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. The filmmaker will also make his San Diego Comic-Con debut on July 23 on a panel to showcase Hope, which will be released by Neon in the US on September 9.
The local release of the film arrives at a crucial time for the Korean film industry, where the theatrical market continues to face significant challenges, following an annual decline in attendance following the pandemic.
Last month, Hope distributor Plus M Entertainment and its sister multiplex chain Megabox filed for bankruptcy protection. Parent company JoongAng Group filed for a court-supervised restructuring in mid-June, which led to the collapse of a proposed merger between Lotte Cinema and Megabox, South Korea’s second and third largest cinema chains.
However, attendance for local films in South Korea increased by 75% in the first half of 2026, boosted by hits such as Colony and the year’s biggest title to date, The King’s Warden.
The government has also been working to revive local theatre attendance, launching an initiative on July 8 that saw 2.05 million movie ticket coupons, each worth $4.04 (KRW6,000), made available to cinemagoers. It was the second such giveaway this year.
