'Exhuma' earns 8 times its budget; 'Handsome Guys' posts 336% profit return

By KTimes

The top-grossing Korean film of the year is "Exhuma," drawing 11.91 million viewers to theaters, followed closely by "The Roundup: Punishment" with 11.5 million viewers, a narrow gap of 410,000.

However, the revenue gap between the two films is wider, with "Exhuma" proving to be far more profitable.

An analysis conducted by the Hankook Ilbo on Sunday, reviewing the top 10 grossing Korean films of 2024, found that "Exhuma" topped the list in profitability with a return of 822 percent.

Produced with a budget of 14 billion won ($11 million), the film earned 115 billion won at the box office.

Assuming the standard 50:50 revenue split between theaters and production companies, the effective return for producers and investors stands at 411 percent. The production cost estimates are based on industry sources, while revenue figures come from the Korean Film Council.

"The Roundup: Punishment” achieved a profitability of 718 percent, earning 110 billion won in theaters, which is 5.1 billion won less than “Exhuma.” The higher production budget of “The Roundup: Punishment” — 15.3 billion won compared to “Exhuma's" 14 billion won — led to a gap in profitability between the two films.

Box office third-place finisher “I, the Executioner” (7.52 million viewers) and fourth-place “Pilot” (4.71 million viewers) retained their rankings in terms of profitability as well.

“I, the Executioner,” the sequel to 2015's "Veteran," recorded a 556 percent return, with a production cost of 13 billion won and 72.4 billion won in box office sales.

Meanwhile, “Pilot” posted a return of 440 percent, earning 43.2 billion won on a production budget of 9.8 billion won.

Surprisingly, two films that were not box office leaders managed to outperform in profitability.

The animation "Heartsping: Teenieping of Love" (1.23 million viewers) ranked fifth in profitability, achieving a 366 percent return with a budget of 3 billion won and revenue of 11 billion won.

Meanwhile, "Handsome Guys" (1.77 million viewers), made on a modest budget of 4.9 billion won, earned 16.5 billion won, yielding a 336 percent return.

Other notable results included "Escape" (2.56 million viewers) ranking seventh with a return of 284 percent, while "Hijacking" (1.77 million viewers) ranked ninth with a modest 129 percent return on a 13 billion won production budget.

The profitability rankings reflect shifts in the Korean film industry since the COVID-19 pandemic. While blockbuster films with star-studded casts and massive budgets have struggled, films with strong genre identities have gained traction.

The success of occult-comedy hybrid "Handsome Guys" and the animation spin-off "Heartsping: Teenieping of Love," based on the TV series "Catch! Teenieping," exemplify this trend.

Kim Hyo-jung, a film critic and adjunct professor at Hanyang University, said, “This year highlighted the strength of films with a clear identity over those that mix too many elements and rely on excessive budgets.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.