Jang Hang-jun's 'rebound' counterattack begins in week 2?

The movie 'Rebound' (directed by Jang Hang-jun) failed to surpass the animation 'Suzume's Lockdown', which is maintaining the top spot at the box office.

According to the Korean Film Council's integrated computer network for movie theater admissions on the 10th, the number of viewers for 'Rebound' over the weekend (Friday-Saturday) was 212,786. The cumulative audience number was 290,164. This is a disappointing report card for the first weekend of release. On the other hand, 'Suzume's Lockdown', which has been ranked first at the box office for 33 days, had 404,946 weekend viewers and a cumulative audience of 4,344,068. It is about twice the number of viewers on the weekend of ‘Rebound’.

The highest box office record for a Japanese animation film is held by 'The First Slam Dunk', which was released in January of this year. The cumulative number of viewers for ‘The First Slam Dunk’ is 4,447,452. If this trend continues, it is predicted that 'Suzume's Lockdown' will soon surpass the record of 'The First Slam Dunk'.

As of 10 am on this day, 'John Wick 4' (65,338 people) is ranked first in real-time reservation rate. This is followed by ‘The First Slam Dunk (20,279 people)’, ‘Killing Romance (14,749 people)’, ‘Suzume’s Breakthrough (14,407 people)’ and ‘Rebound (9,500 people)’.

'Rebound''s performance in the first week of release is somewhat disappointing. To revitalize the Korean film industry, the Korean Movie Theater Industry Association supports the films 'Rebound', 'Killing Romance', and 'Dream' to be released in April. According to the Korean Movie Theater Industry Association, April is traditionally the off-season for theaters, and due to the poor performance of Korean films from the Lunar New Year holiday until recently, it was decided to provide release subsidies to distributors.

'Rebound' is the first film to be released among the supported films in April. Thanks to the box office success of ‘The First Slam Dunk’, which was released in January of this year, the nickname ‘Nongnol (basketball play)’ was coined. Following this, the number of spectators watching Korean professional basketball is also increasing. However, the performance of 'Rebound' in the first week of release did not surpass the barrier of 'Suzume's Lockdown'.

'Rebound' received somewhat disappointing results in the first week of release, but it is too early to be disappointed. This is because word of mouth is spreading mainly through SNS and online communities. In addition, the CGV Golden Egg Index, which started at 97% on the first day of release, rose to 98%. Megabox's actual viewing rating also rose to 9 points. It is normal for the viewing rating to decrease as the number of viewers increases, but this unusual increase is attracting attention. Some say that the biggest enemy is the weather. This is because more people go on outings rather than going to the movies during the spring flower season.

On April 14th, 'Killing Romance' (directed by Lee Won-seok), which was selected as the April support film, will be released. While 'Suzume's Lockdown' is firmly holding the top spot at the box office, 'Rebound' must also compete with 'Killing Romance'. It remains to be seen how the performance of 'Rebound', which is going viral, will change.

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr