‘The Roundup: No Way Out’ draws 10m admissions as other movies struggle to break even

South Korean crime action franchise “The Roundup: No Way Out” starring Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, has attracted a record-setting 10.9 million moviegoers as of Saturday, according to the movie’s distributor ABO Entertainment.

"The Roundup: No Way Out" is the 21st local film and the 30th film released in South Korea to reach the milestone. It is also the first film this year to set such a record. The film opened on May 31.

This comes as a significant feat amid the sluggish recovery of South Korean cinema since pandemic. According to the Korean Film Council's data, ticket sales for domestic films last month were down 19 percent, while the number of admissions sold was down 32.3 percent, compared to June 2019.

In the first half of this year, zero Korean films were able to break even, despite star-studded lineups and megascale blockbusters like "The Point Men," "Phantom," "The Devil's Deal" and more. "The Roundup: No Way Out" has become the first film in 11 months to turn a profit after "The Night Owl" in November last year.

“Eight years ago, I was sitting inside a small room, planning out this film whose production was uncertain in practical terms. Despite trials and errors, the first film of the series ‘The Outlaws’ came out, and the ‘The Roundup’ miraculously attracted 12.6 million moviegoers. And today, we saw a third miracle coming our way,” Lee wrote on a social media post.

"The Roundup: No Way Out" is the third installment of an action franchise that began with "The Outlaws" (2017), which attracted 6.87 million viewers. Its sequel, "The Roundup," topped the annual domestic box office last year with 12.69 million ticket sales. It was also the first film to draw over 10 million viewers since before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the latest film, Lee reprises his role as a detective named Ma Seok-do. Ma hunts down a local drug ring as a new and dangerous drug circulates at local clubs.

Just 10 days after the third installment’s opening, the film become the fourth-highest-grossing film globally by raking in $25.3 million in ticket sales. According to the industry, “The Roundup: No Way Out” cost 13.5 billion won ($10.25 million) to produce and the break even point was at 1.8 million admissions.

The film has opened not only in Korean theaters but also in Hong Kong, Macao, North America, Taiwan, Vietnam and Mongolia, as the film has been pre-sold in 158 countries, according to distributor ABO Entertainment.

Also, the film has also reached the 4 million ticket sales mark a lot faster than the previous installment, becoming the first Korean movie in seven years to see its ticket sales reach the 4 million mark in the opening week since the zombie thriller “Train to Busan” (2016) and action drama “A Taxi Driver” (2017).

“All our staff and actors combined their efforts to make 'The Roundup' the country’s representative movie. We will do our best to not let you down on our fourth installment,” Lee said in a statement released via the distributor.

Currently, the fourth installment of “The Roundup” franchise is at the final stage of editing after wrapping up shooting. A screenplay for the fifth installment is in the works.

In May, Lee told The Korea Herald that there will be up to eight parts in this crime action franchise, and that the overall concept of each film has been already confirmed.