Director Na Hong-jin’s new film ″Hope″ attracted over 330,000 viewers on its opening day, securing the number one spot at the box office. According to the Korea Film Council’s integrated ticket sales data on the 15th, ″Hope″ drew 333,918 viewers on its release day, with a cumulative audience of 351,276 including preview screenings.

This opening record surpassed the first-day performances of Na Hong-jin’s previous works: ″The Chaser″ (113,673 viewers), ″The Yellow Sea″ (120,482 viewers), and ″The Wailing″ (310,042 viewers). It also exceeded this year’s highest opening score of ″The Swarm″ (199,762 viewers) and the opening day audience of the 10-million viewer film ″Pawn″ (330,118 viewers). The real-time reservation rate also ranked first at 63.1%, with nearly 550,000 tickets booked in advance.

″Hope″ is a story about Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min), the head of the Hopo Port branch located in the Demilitarized Zone, who hears from local youths about a tiger sighting, leading the entire village to go on high alert. Actors Jo In-sung and Jung Ho-yeon also star in the film.

Meanwhile, the animated film ″Minions & Monsters″ (directed by Pierre Coffin), which was released on the same day, recorded 31,728 daily viewers and a cumulative audience of 35,565, ranking second at the box office. The live-action film ″Moana″ added 13,025 viewers, bringing its total audience to 579,541 and placing third.