According to the Korea Film Council’s Integrated Computerized Ticketing System, director Na Hong-jin’s new film ″Hope″ attracted over 330,000 viewers on its opening day, setting the highest opening score of the year. Released on the 15th, ″Hope″ drew 333,918 viewers, ranking first at the box office, and the cumulative audience including preview screenings was counted at 351,276.

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

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

Meanwhile, the animation ″Minions & Monsters″ (director 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 cumulative audience to 579,541 and securing third place.