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Hyun Bin's 'Harbin' hits 3 million moviegoers in 9 days

Published: 02 Jan. 2025, 13:04 Updated: 03 Jan. 2025, 09:59

KIM JI-YE
[email protected]

Still from historical film ″Harbin″ [CJ ENM]

Historical film “Harbin” attracted over 3 million moviegoers in the nine days after its release on Dec. 24, 2024.

“Harbin” surpassed the 3 million mark on New Year's Day, with 3,002,202 admissions, its distributor CJ ENM said.

According to CJ ENM, the 3 million milestone was hit a day quicker than film “12.12: The Day” (2023), which was released on Nov. 22, 2023, and garnered 10 million moviegoers during its run.

It has currently gathered 3,094,690 moviegoers as of Thursday, according to the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network for tickets.

“Harbin” was directed by Woo Min-ho, renowned for his films like “Inside Men” (2015) and “The Man Standing Next,” (2020) and set in 1909, a year before Korea was under Japanese colonial rule — from 1910 to 1945.

The film follows independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (1879–1910) and his fellow Korean independence activists on a journey to Harbin with a single purpose — restoring Korea — while being relentlessly chased after. The story is based on the historical event of Ahn assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito in Harbin, China, in 1909.

The film features actor Hyun Bin, who plays Ahn, alongside actors Park Jeong-min, Jeon Yeo-been, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Chea-myung and Lee Dong-wook portraying Korean independence activists, as well as Park Hoon as a Japanese army major.

Ahn, born in 1879, is one of Korea’s most revered figures known for devoting his whole life to restoring Korea from Japan after Korea forcibly signed the Eulsa Treaty, which introduced the Japanese protectorate system in Korea. He cultivated talent by building schools, even selling his own coal business to do so, as well as leading the Korean Righteous Army and pursuing several attacks against Japanese forces.

Update, Jan. 3: A previous version of this story mistakenly stated the date as Monday instead of Thursday.

BY KIM JI-YE [[email protected]]