'Elemental' becomes most-watched foreign film this year

Movies

Published: 31 Jul. 2023, 14:14

'Elemental' becomes most-watched foreign film this year

Main poster for ″Elemental″ [WALT DISNEY COMPANY KOREA]

Pixar’s animation film “Elemental” became the most successful foreign film released in Korea this year on Sunday.

“Elemental” surpassed 5.58 million cumulative moviegoers that day, beating Japanese animation “Suzume,” which had recorded 5.54 million, according to distributor Walt Disney Company Korea.

This also placed it second overall this year behind the Korean action flick, “The Roundup: No Way Out,” starring Don Lee.

Though “Elemental” received little attention when it was first released, it shot to the top of Korea's box office chart in its second week.

Last week, “Elemental” became the country's most popular Pixar work to date after hitting 5 million viewers.

The sales share of “Elemental” was 16.4 percent on Saturday, second only to director Ryoo Seung-wan’s new film “Smugglers.”

The success of “Elemental” in Korea is largely thanks to the many Korean elements in the film itself and its production.

It was produced and directed by Korean American Peter Sohn, and its head animator is Korean American Lee Chae-yeon.

It also includes Korean and immigrant perspectives in the story, such as the importance of and pressure from family relationships and the struggles with discrimination that the main character Ember and her family face.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]