Christmas moviegoers set a record

Theaters in Korea saw more than 2 million people on Christmas Day, the largest turnout of the year.

According to the Korean Film Council, a total of 2,010,756 people went to see movies on Christmas Day, which was by far the largest number of theatergoers on single day in 2019.

On Christmas Day in 2018, around 1.9 million people went to local theaters and around 2.03 million people saw movies on Christmas Day in 2017.

The top-selling movie on Wednesday was local blockbuster “Ashfall” starring Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok, Bae Suzy and Jeon Hye-jin. The film tells the story of North and South Korean agents trying to respond to the volcanic eruption of Mount Paektu. It drew approximately 936,400 moviegoers to theaters over the course of the day.

“Cats” came in second with around 312,500 viewers, followed by “Start-up,” also staring Ma, and “Frozen 2.”

By Esther Chung