BTS' 'Bring The Soul: The Movie' poised for strong showing at S. Korean box office

As South Korean K-pop sensation BTS is returning to the silver screen with its documentary film "Bring The Soul: The Movie," people are waiting to see whether the boy band can join other local movies to break the monthslong Disney dominance at the local box office.

"Bring The Soul" is its third documentary film about their behind-the-scenes lives during their "Love Yourself" world tour, aimed at promoting their "Love Yourself" album series last year, as well as their on-stage performances.

The septet's third worldwide concert tour began last August in South Korea and continued in 13 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

The tour's first concert, which took place at Seoul Olympic Stadium in Seoul on Aug. 26, was reproduced as a cinema version titled "Love Yourself in Seoul," released in Jan. It attracted 342,000 fans.

Its sequel features the following day of its final European concert in Paris. BTS members talk about their own feelings and experiences that they had during the monthslong travel to perform in front of tens of thousands of fans across the world.

According to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), "Bring The Soul," scheduled to premiere Wednesday, had sold more than 164,000 presale tickets as of 12:05 p.m.

It took up 35.5 percent of presales on the day, outnumbering the Korean action comedy film, "Exit," with 20 percent and historical blockbuster "The Battle: Roar to Victory," to be released Wednesday, with 15.1 percent.

Critics expect the BTS movie to be a potential game changer in the South Korean box office where Disney-made movies have carried the day for months.

"BTS has a great fan base, and they buy movie tickets a lot like they did for albums," culture critic Ha Jae-keun said. "Its fans are big enough to make a storm in the first stage."

Released in April, Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame" posted a total of 13.9 million admissions, becoming the most-watched foreign film in South Korea.

Disney's live-action film "Aladdin," opened in May, topped 10 million admissions about a month later and still attracted 230,000 people last weekend.

Its next remake of "The Lion King" also measured up to the market expectations, garnering 4.5 million audiences within less than three weeks.

Moreover, "Spider-Man: Far From Home" sold over 8 million tickets, while more than 3.3 million people saw "Toy Story 4."

On the other hand, South Korean movies have not performed well, except for the Cannes-winning satire "Parasite," as they've failed to appeal to movie fans in the late spring and summer season.

In July alone, as a result, South Korean movies accounted for a mere 11.7 percent of total ticket sales in the country.

But in Aug., South Korean blockbusters made a remarkable rebound and successfully caught the heart of film buffs and casual movie fans as "Exit" and the action horror "The Divine Fury," both released Wednesday, topped the movie chart over the weekend.

It is the first time that a South Korean movie has finished first at the weekend box office since June 6-8, when "Parasite" stayed atop it for two weeks in a row.

Insiders say it will be interesting to see whether "Bring The Soul" can contribute to the mood based on BTS' fandom, along with "The Battle." (Yonhap)