Latest “The Roundup” breaks 5 million tickets in first week, franchise record

“The Roundup: Punishment” surpassed 5 million admissions in just one week after its release, vying to become the third film in the “The Roundup” franchise to reach 10 million admissions.

The film had 5,005,664 admissions as of Tuesday afternoon, becoming the fastest film to open in 2024 according to the Korea Box Office Information System (Kobis), and becoming the fastest film in 2024 to cross the 5 million mark of tickets. The previous record was held by “Exuma,” which reached the milestone within 10 days of release.

“The Roundup: Punishment” also surpassed the record of “The Roundup” (2022), which is the most popular film of the series so far.

The latest installment of 'The Roundup' also has the highest daily viewership of the entire series, also surpassing the previous record held by 'The Roundup'.

“The Roundup: Punishment” reached 861,922 viewers on its release date and reached 1 million the following day.

In “The Roundup,” a monster detective named Ma Seok-do, left, puts a helmet on a criminal. The intense interrogation process that followed has become a trademark along with the line, “In the room of truth.” [ABO Entertainment]

Instead of an army of producers, directors and big companies – as is typical of blockbuster films – “The Roundup” was conceived, produced and dramatized entirely by 53-year-old actor Don Lee, who also stars in the series. Lee is also known as Ma Dong-seok in Korea.

Lee proved the power of 10 million tickets with his work in films like “Train to Busan” (2016), both installments of “Along With the Gods” (2017, 2018) and “Veteran” (2015). .

“The goal is to break even,” he said in an interview with JoongAng Ilbo on April 18 ahead of the film's release. “The Roundup: Punishment” broke the 3.5 million mark on April 28 after five days.

Park Ji Hwan, left, and Ma Dong-seok. [ABO Entertainment]

In this fourth installment, detective Ma Seok-do, played by Lee, once again wipes out crime with an iron fist. Actor Park Ji-hwan reprises his role as Korean Chinese ex-gangster Jang Yi-soo. He gets more screen time than in the previous film, returning with a refreshing sense of humor.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]