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Year-End Hits Fuel Record Box Office

Some 220 million movie tickets were sold in Korea last year, the most in the history of Korean cinema, largely due to three domestic Christmas hits.

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According to the Korean Film Council on Monday, movie theaters drew 219.87 million viewers last year, about 2.58 million more than the previous record set in 2015.

The expectation had been that numbers would be similar to 2016's because there was no solid middle ground in domestic films -- they were either hits or flops. Also, younger people seemed to be going to the movies less.

But then came the three hits -- "Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds", "Steel Rain" and "1987: When the Day Comes".

"Steel Rain" pulled in 4.01 million spectators, "Along with the Gods" 8.54 million and "1987" 1.94 million as of Sunday. They even beat out foreign blockbusters such as "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "The Greatest Showman".

Last month alone, 23.87 million tickets were sold, a big increase from 20.16 million in December 2016.

"Along with the Gods" was the main contributor, selling 1.01 million tickets on Sunday alone. On Dec. 24 and 25, it was seen by more than 1 million people each, and it is expected to become only the 14th domestic film to attract over 10 million viewers on Tuesday.

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