S. Korea box office tops 15m admissions in June

South Korea's box office reported 15 million admissions for June, marking the largest monthly tally for over two years, data showed Monday.

A total of 15.5 million people went to theaters last month, up 6.3 percent from 14.6 million a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korean Film Council.

It is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the monthly audience numbers topped the 10 million level for two straight months.

And the June figure marked the highest since 16.84 million from January 2020 -- the last full month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The number of attendance fell to a record low of 970,000 in April 2020, while several millions of people came to theaters in ensuing months during the pandemic.

Homegrown and foreign big hits led the upbeat performance last month.

The action comedy "The Roundup" topped the June box office, with 5.2 million moviegoers. The sequel to the 2017 hit "The Outlaws" had garnered a total of 12.2 million admissions as of Monday, becoming the 14th most-watched film of all time in Korea.

The American sci-fi action film "Jurassic World Dominion" attracted 2.8 million people in June, closely followed by the Korean hero film "The Witch: Part 2. The Other One" with 2.4 million and the action drama film "Top Gun: Maverick" with 2.1 million.

The local box office is expected to continue enjoying the boom in July thanks to upcoming summer blockbusters, like Marvel's "Thor: Love and Thunder," and Korean films "Alienoid," "Emergency Declaration" and "Hansan." (Yonhap)