Korean box office slumps in February amid lack of hit films

Korea's box office saw sluggish performance last month, with ticket sales and attendance declining sharply year-on-year, data showed Wednesday.

According to the Korean Film Council, total cinema attendance dropped 52.2 percent on-year to 5.47 million, while sales plummeted more than 60 percent to 26.3 billion won ($18.1 million), largely due to the absence of major hit movies.

The comedy-action "Hitman 2" and the supernatural thriller "Dark Nuns," which were released around the Lunar New Year holiday in January, continued to attract local moviegoers. But their performances lagged far behind the mega success achieved by last year's supernatural thriller "Exhuma."

The Hollywood blockbuster "Captain America: Brave New World," which hit local theaters on Feb. 12, was the biggest hit of the month, generating 14.6 billion won in sales and drawing over 1.4 million moviegoers. (Yonhap)