‘Devil’s Deal’ tops local box office, sets new attendance record

Director Lee Won-tae’s first crime noir flick in four years, “The Devil’s Deal,” has topped the local box office Thursday, setting a new attendance record, according to the Korea Film Council.

Data showed “The Devil’s Deal,” which opened on Wednesday, saw a total of 188,827 moviegoers on its first day. As of Thursday, the number of movie theater admissions came to 192,623.

The figures represent the highest attendance compared to other films that have opened this year, surpassing the opening numbers of Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which saw 174,879 admissions upon its release on Feb. 15.

“The Devil’s Deal” also topped the local box office, making it the first Korean film in five weeks to take the top spot on the chart that has been dominated by foreign films such as “The First Slam Dunk,” a Japanese sports animation film, and the aforementioned Ant-man sequel.

“The Devil’s Deal,” set in Busan in 1992, centers on the confrontation and collaboration between the ever-unsuccessful politician, Hae-yong (Cho Jin-woong), political heavyweight, Soon-tae (Lee Sung-min), and gang boss Pil-do (Kim Moo-yeol).

The film deals with humanity’s instinctive desire and the betrayal that revolves around power and money.

Director Lee, who was invited to the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 with his noir film “The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil,” reunited with actor Kim Moo-yeol for this project. Lee said he cast Cho Jin-woong early on and the acting roster was “nicely completed” when “Reborn Rich” actor Lee Sung-min joined the cast.

“The year 1992 was in fact the most turbulent year in South Korea’s political history, when both a presidential election and the general election took place. Busan, a place where a variety of people moved after the Japanese colonial period, represents the rough, untamed mood of the region, and such a background was a great fit for a crime noir film,” Lee said.