“Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days” surpassed 10 million in attendance on the 14th day of its run, the film’s distributor said Tuesday.
The local action fantasy film recorded 10,002,508 for its cumulative tally of views at about 2:34 p.m. based on a real-time tally from the Korean Film Council, Lotte Entertainment said.
With this accomplishment, it became the 22nd film to hit the milestone in Korea, following Marvel’s superhero movie “Avengers: Infinity War” in May, and the second “Along With the Gods” film to record more than 10 million in attendance.
The first installment, “The Two Worlds,” attracted an audience of 14.41 million in Korea. In South Korea, 10 million in terms of attendance is a standard for hugely successful films.
Starring Ha Jung-woo, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi, “The Last 49 Days” is the second installment in the franchise started by the 2017 box office hit “Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds” by the same director, Kim Yong-hwa.
The latest release tells the story of three grim reapers from the first installment meeting the Seongju God (House Guardian God), who remembers their pasts from 1,000 years ago.
Upon its release on Aug. 1, “The Last 49 Days” set a new all-time opening day record in South Korea, breaking the record set in June by “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” On Aug. 4, “The Last 49 Days” set a new single-day sales record in the country, beating “Avengers: Infinity War.”
It also became the second-fastest film of all time to reach 10 million viewers in South Korea, after 12 days for “Roaring Currents,” the all-time most-watched movie in the country. The previous No. 2 was 16 days set by “The Two Worlds.”
The two “Along With the Gods” films were shot simultaneously, a first for the Korean film industry, with a total budget of about 40 billion won (US$35.44 million). The combined break-even point for the two films is 13 million in terms of attendance. Since the first movie has already sold more than 14 million tickets, the ticket sales for the second movie will all be counted as profit.
The two films have already earned over 200 billion won at the local box office.
“The Last 49 Days” is also making a splash in global markets.
In Taiwan, it earned $5.8 million in the opening week, beating the opening of Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” in the country.
The Korean film made $3.3 million in the first week in Hong Kong, the biggest opening week for all Asian films this year. It also had the biggest opening week for all Korean films that have been shown in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam.
The film is scheduled to open in 11 other Asian countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, by early September.
Source: Yonhap News
