Korean Box Office Revenue Climbs 4.7% as Moana Debuts at No. 1

Korea’s theatrical market grew 4.7% in total weekly revenue during the 28th week of 2026, but the gain came almost entirely from a single new arrival: Moana opened directly at first place with ₩5.64 billion and 511,463 admissions, all of them accumulated in its debut frame. Every one of the seven holdover titles on the chart lost ground week-on-week, and none of the returning films climbed a single position.

A Chart Carried by One Opening

The concentration numbers tell the story more sharply than the headline growth figure does. Revenue share held by the top three titles jumped from 74.0% to 77.2% in a single week. That is not a market broadening on the back of a healthy slate — it is a market narrowing around whatever happens to be new.

Behind Moana sat Nundongja (눈동자) at ₩4.57 billion for the week and 434,556 admissions, lifting its running total to 1,277,246. Toy Story 5 took third with ₩3.79 billion and 361,826 weekly admissions against a cumulative 2,580,314 — still the strongest total-attendance performer among the current top three, and the only title on the chart to have cleared two and a half million.

The drop below the podium is severe. Fourth place, Gunche (군체), managed ₩772.5 million and 72,022 admissions, roughly one-fifth of what third place drew. The gap between the top three and everything else is where the 77.2% figure comes from.

Two Debuts, Two Very Different Outcomes

Moana was not the only new entry. David (다윗) also opened this week, landing at fifth with ₩601.1 million and 59,310 admissions from a cumulative 75,469. Two films entered the chart in the same frame; one of them accounted for the market’s entire revenue increase, and the other opened at roughly a tenth of its scale.

That split matters more than the aggregate 4.7%. A week in which two titles debut, seven decline, and zero rise is not a week of recovering demand — it is a week in which one release was large enough to offset the decay of everything already playing.

The Long Tail Is Thin

Below fifth place, weekly revenue falls off quickly. Marty Supreme took sixth with ₩345.9 million, Wild Thing seventh with ₩263.2 million, and the Doraemon feature Nobita’s New Undersea Secret Base eighth with ₩178.1 million. The Backrooms (₩191.9 million) and Greenland 2: Migration (₩161.6 million) rounded out the chart.

Two of these are worth separating from the rest. Wild Thing has drawn 1,333,233 admissions in total and The Backrooms 1,209,069 — both past the million mark, both now contributing under ₩300 million a week. They are in the tail end of runs that already worked. Greenland 2, by contrast, has 52,544 cumulative admissions against 16,971 this week, and the Doraemon title 57,150 against 17,093. Those are films still in early release that are not finding an audience.

What the 4.7% Actually Measures

A weekly revenue increase is normally read as a demand signal. This one is closer to a scheduling artifact. The seven holdovers all fell; the concentration ratio rose more than three percentage points; the number of titles gaining rank was zero. Strip out Moana’s ₩5.64 billion and the week reads as straightforward contraction.

The near-term question is whether Moana holds. With 511,463 admissions banked entirely in week one and no accumulated base behind it, its second-week retention will determine whether W29 shows genuine growth or whether the market simply resets to the declining baseline the other seven titles have been tracing. Nundongja, now at 1.28 million cumulative, faces a similar test one week further along its curve.