Author: Loomis (Kim Song-ho)

Korean poster for D-WAR. © 2007 Younggu Art Entertainment Co., Ltd.

D-WAR opened nationwide in South Korea on August 1. According to news reports, D-WAR marked the biggest opening day record for a Korean movie this year with an estimated 417,298 admissions at 530 screens across the country. In comparison, THE HOST recorded around 450,000 admissions for it first day of release last year— the biggest record then, which was later outrun by SPIDER-MAN 3`s 500,000. Domestic distributor Showbox is predicting that D-WAR will sell 2 million tickets by this weekend’s close. Early analysis indicates that the high number of admissions is mainly due to family audiences. D-WAR has opened during children`s vacation season in Korea, and records show that males in their 30s and 40s bought an average 2.5 tickets per person and brought their family members to the cinemas. While D-WAR was filmed in English, 15% of all the cinemas playing the movie feature a Korean dubbed version to attract family viewing. However, audience reactions are mixed and the summer box office war is far from over. It is uncertain if D-WAR will endure after the first week or not. It will be quite interesting to observe box office charts for the weeks to come.