As two Korean films, “Miracle in Cell No. 7” and “The Berlin File” swept the local box office, homegrown films grabbed their biggest bite of the growing movie market in seven years.

According to the Korean Film Council, the total number of ticket sales, combining both Korean and foreign films, reached well over 21 million in February, up 67.03 percent from a year ago.

The growth in the number of movie-goers was led mainly by the popularity of Korean films, which accounted for 82.9 percent of overall ticket sales last month.

That was the highest share since 85.3 percent was recorded in October 2006. 

The Korean film industry had been on a downward spiral since that month before it showed signs of recovery by accounting for 73.2 percent and 75.9 percent of the overall ticket sales in September 2011 and in February last year, respectively. The percentage has hovered around 60 to 70 percent since the second half of last year.

Two Korean films in particular did very well.

The comedy “Miracle in Cell No. 7” and the spy-thriller “The Berlin File” each sold over 10 million and 7 million tickets, placing them as two of the biggest box-office hits in Korean film history.

The noir-action “New World” is expected to be the next runner in the boom of Korean films, drawing over 2 million viewers in just 10 days of opening and placing it at No. 1 at the box office.

Industry watchers cautiously predict if this trend continues, the ticket sales for Korean films may top 200 million this year following 2012 when the tally topped 100 million.

(Yonhap News)