"Peninsula" Tops Asian Box Office on First Day of Release
When "Train to Busan" made it to box office and people worldwide acknowledged how great the plot was, not to mention its world-class cinematography, people wanted more. Though it ended tragically, people still loved it to bits. This was why when the sequel "Peninsula" was announced, prospective viewers were on the edge of their chairs.
The most awaited zombie thriller "Peninsula," amid the pandemic, has now taken over the cinema world in four countries in Asia, namely Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. This is good news for the film industry, which has been greatly affected by the global crisis. More and more people are going to the cinemas, albeit following social distancing protocols to prevent the spread of the silent enemy.
In the span of five days, millions watched the film in theaters, and considering the current health crisis, this is a stellar feat, not to mention that movie piracy is also secured not to be distributed illegally. Needless to say, fans of "Train to Busan" and zombie-themed film enthusiasts in general are delighted to finally laid their eyes on the sophomore film.
In Korea alone, more than 1.8 million tickets were sold since its opening on Wednesday, with over 960,000 ticket sales over the weekend. The data was released by the state-funded Korean Film Council. "Peninsula" is expected to outperform the box office hit "#ALIVE," another zombie thriller, starring Yoo Ah In and Park Shin Hye. It attracted more than 1.85 moviegoers as of July 19 when they opened on June 24.
"Peninsula" gathered USD 800,000 in Taiwan and USD 147,000 in Singapore during their opening day last July 15, exceeding sales from previous other films, making it a box office hit.
The film distributor further said that the film currently ranks first as much as reservation rate is concerned in Vietnam. The film is likely to hit local cinemas on July 24. The pre-booking record of the post-apocalyptic film outweighs Bong Joon Ho's critically acclaimed film "Parasite" last June 2019.
Both "Peninsula" and "Train to Busan" are helmed by Director Yeon Sang Ho. Being confident of his movie and knowing it will become a hit, Director Yeon Sang Ho already had plans to do the sequel while still filming "Train to Busan."
The scenes in "Peninsula" are more realistic as they used twice the special effects and more computer graphics.
The setting of the "Peninsula" is four years after the unprecedented disaster took place, leaving Korea in ruins and zombies are dominating the place.
As Director Yeon Sang Ho said previously, "In the post-apocalyptic period, hope is necessary. Please, think of the movie as a story of the people who established that hope was imperative."
To those who are very excited to watch "Peninsula," hold your horses as they will release the film to more than one hundred eighty countries following the time frame: New Zealand (August 6), Finland, Sweden, Norway and North America (August 7), while Australia, Russia, India, and the Philippines will be released later in August.
Stay tuned to get updated.
Meanwhile, watch the trailer below and be thrilled!
