Sex slave film reaches No. 1

“Spirits’ Homecoming,” a small film about former Japanese military sex slaves made by Cho Jung-lae, topped Korean box offices in March.

According to a monthly report from the state-run Korean Film Council on Tuesday, the independent film, which was released Feb. 24, was the most-watched film in March, with 2.2 million tickets sold at 876 screens nationwide. Production of the film was delayed 14 years because of financial struggles due to the controversial subject matter. So far the movie has made 16.9 billion won in Korean theaters.

Disney’s family-friendly animation “Zootopia” came in second with just over 2 million tickets sold, adding up to 16.1 billion won.

DC Comics’ “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which is fast slipping in the ranks at the moment, came in third with 1.7 million tickets sold at 1,696 screens nationwide.

As for diversity film, which is a term used in Korea to indicate indie and art-house films, Choi Jeong-yeol’s poignant coming-of-age story “One Way Trip” came in first, selling 141,000 tickets.

The report also said that Korean theaters saw a little more than 11.3 million visitors in March, grossing 89.8 billion won, which was a 0.5 percent year-on-year decrease. Korean films only accounted for 36 percent of all tickets sold last month.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]