“Peninsula” -- a loose sequel to smash-hit zombie flick “Train to Busan” -- topped box office charts in all four countries where it opened over the last five days.

The film swept through box offices in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, according to the film’s distributor Next Entertainment World on Monday, bringing moviegoers back into local cinemas and reviving the COVID19-hit film scene.

“Peninsula” has sold more than 1.8 million tickets in Korea since opening on Wednesday, including 960,000 over the weekend, box office data from the state-run Korean Film Council showed. The film is soon to outperform another recent hit “#Alive,” starring Yoo Ah-in, which opened on June 24 and had attracted 1.85 million moviegoers as of Sunday, KOFIC data showed.

In Taiwan and Singapore -- where the film was opened Wednesday -- “Peninsula” raised $800,000 and $147,000, respectively, at the box offices on the opening day, exceeding figures marked by the previous film in both countries.

The distributor added that the post-apocalyptic movie is currently ranking first for film reservation rate in Vietnam -- where the film is slated to hit local theaters on July 24 -- outperforming the prebooking record set by auteur Bong Joon-ho’s award-sweeping “Parasite” in June 2019.

“Peninsula” is helmed by Yeon Sang-ho, who also directed “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station” in the same cinematic timeline. It features top actors Gang Dong-won and Lee Jung-hyun. The new film takes place on the Korean Peninsula four years after the outbreak of an unexplained disease, showing survivors’ struggles for hope inside the globally abandoned land.

“Peninsula” is expected to open in more than 180 countries, including New Zealand on Aug. 6, Finland, Sweden, Norway and North America on Aug. 7 and Australia, Russia, India and the Philippines later in August.





By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)