Korean Film Council announced on Sunday that the movie "Train to Busan" (Hangul: 부산행Read: Busan Haeng) has made the15th spot in the list of nationwide highest-grossing film in Korea. The film has gained more than 10 million viewers.
In its premiere last month, the film has set many box office records in South Korea. Variety reported that “Train to Busan” is an unstoppable force. On its official opening, the film earned $34.3 million from 4.75 million viewers in five days.
“Train to Busan” also set a new record in South Korea for the highest grossing in a single day. Gaining $9.90 million from 1.28 million admissions in one day.
Korean Film Council also stated that a day before Korean Independence day on Aug.15, the film made a significant advancement, as it climbed to the15th position of the highest grossing film in Korea with more than 10.7 million viewers, Soompi reported.
"Train to Busan" has surpassed “A Violent Prosecutor” that gained 9.7 million viewers and outranked “Snowpiercer,” a 2013 film which starred Hollywood star Chris Evans.
This is Yeon Sang Ho's first live action film, as the director is known for its animation films. In an interview with Yonhap Agency, he talked about successful transition from animation film to live action film.
"(A South Korean zombie thriller) can infatuate middle age and elderly viewers as much as the younger ones," he explained the reason he chose horror genre for his first live action film. He also amazed at how audience from all ages recognized that he was shooting a horror film during the shooting in Ilsan.
"When we were out shooting zombie scenes in Ilsan, I saw (a middle aged) vendor telling the bustling crowd 'It must be a zombie film.'"
“Train to Busan” is jam-packed with stars such as Gong Yoo, Kim Soo An and Ma Dong-Seok. Gong Yoo played a divorced father who took a train to Busan from Seoul with his daughter. Suddenly, a virus outbreak in the train turned passengers into zombies. Both father and daughter along with the remaining passenger must struggle to survive in a high speed train.
