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Na Hong-jin’s new science fiction film ‘Hope (HOPE),’ his first in 10 years, is shaking up the summer box office with overwhelming advance ticket sales from its opening day.
According to the Korean Box Office Information System on the 15th, ‘Hope’ had about 599,000 advance ticket buyers as of 7 a.m. that day, with an advance booking rate of 68.1%.
It easily outpaced currently showing films ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (11.3%) and ‘Minions & Monsters’ (6.2%) to take the No. 1 spot overall. It is the highest pre-sale rate among Korean films released this year.
‘Hope’ is a science fiction thriller about events that unfold after an unidentified alien life form appears in the fictional port town of Hope Harbor near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Na, who released his first new film in 10 years since 2016’s ‘The Wailing,’ blends his signature suspense with science fiction and black comedy in a fresh genre experiment.
Its star-studded cast has also heightened expectations. The film features Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, as well as top international actors such as Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.
The addition of major Hollywood stars to a commercial film by a Korean director drew significant attention from the early stages of production.
The film was first unveiled in the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival in May and was later completed with post-production work to improve its quality. Instead of relying heavily on CGI, it used real vehicles and horses to stage large-scale action scenes, maximizing realism while focusing on delivering both the tension of a thriller and the scale of science fiction.
Its production budget was 50 billion won, the largest in Korean film history. Before its release, it was pre-sold to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, recovering nearly half of its net production cost.
The film industry sees ‘Hope’ as a turning point for the Korean box office. A hit could revive weakened investor sentiment, but if it falls short of expectations, it could further discourage the production of big-budget blockbusters.