‘Avengers: Endgame’ earns 2 trillion won for 9 days in Korea

Marvel Studio’s latest superhero blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame” has become the fastest film to attract 10 million viewers, setting the record by 7:30 p.m. Saturday based on a tally from the Korean Film Council, on the 11th day since it hit the silver screen, according to the movie’s distributor Walt Disney Company Korea. Outpacing the earlier record of 12 days set by the Korean film “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” in 2014, the epic finale of the superhero series has become the 24th film to draw more than 10 million viewers.

Having already exceeded the mark, “Endgame” is still enjoying popularity with over 600,000 people buying tickets in real-time according to the Korean Film Council’s box-office tally, accounting for nearly 75 percent of the domestic box office business. If the current pace is maintained, the film is likely to replace “Avatar,” which was released in 2009 and viewed by some 13.48 million people, as the highest grossing foreign film. “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” in 2014 is still the most-viewed film of all time in the country with around 17.62 million viewers.

“Avengers: Endgame” is also breaking records on revenue. Box Office Mojo said Saturday that the film’s ticket sales reached around 1.91 billion dollars in nine days, exceeding its production cost of 356 million dollars by 5.3 times. The latest release is set to replace the previous record of 2 billion dollars set by the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Avengers: Infinity War.”

The Wall Street Journal has also predicted that “Endgame” is likely to surpass the 2.79-billion-dollar global gross of “Avatar” in 2009. In addition, the blockbuster has become the first foreign-made film in China to reach 3 billion yuan of accumulated sales.


Seol Lee snow@donga.com