A scene from the film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’, Photo courtesy of|Showbox.

The film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ (directed by Jang Hang-joon) earned 151.8 billion won, achieving No. 1 in all-time box-office revenue.

On the 29th, according to the Korean Film Council, ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ recorded revenue of 151.8 billion won and 15.73 million admissions, ranking first overall at the box office in the first quarter of 2026. In particular, by surpassing the record of ‘Extreme Job’, it also rose to No. 1 all-time at the box office by revenue.

The success of ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ also energized the theater industry in the first quarter. In the first quarter of 2026, total theater revenue was 318.0 billion won and total admissions were 31.9 million, marking the highest first-quarter level since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020. Given that ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ alone drew more than 15 million viewers, it is interpreted as having had a major impact on the year-on-year increases of 58.7% (117.7 billion won) in revenue and 53.2% (11.08 million) in admissions.

Also in the first quarter of 2026, Korean films posted revenue of 233.3 billion won and 24.01 million admissions. Compared with the same period a year earlier, revenue rose 117.5% (126.1 billion won) and admissions 115.1% (12.85 million), more than doubling. Compared with the first-quarter average of the pre-pandemic period (2017~2019), revenue for Korean films reached 94.5% and admissions 79.7%, indicating a recovery trend.

In the distributor rankings, Showbox, which handled three titles including ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ and ‘If We’, ranked first for the first quarter of 2026 with revenue of 176.3 billion won (revenue share 55.4%). In second place was Walt Disney Company Korea LLC, which distributed five titles including ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, ‘Zootopia 2’, and ‘Hoppers’, recording revenue of 43.1 billion won (revenue share 13.6%).

Meanwhile, ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’, released on February 4, is set in Joseon in 1457 and tells the story of the young king Danjong (Park Ji-hoon), who was stripped of the throne by his uncle Grand Prince Suyang and exiled to Cheongnyeongpo in Yeongwol, and Eom Heung-do (Yoo Hae-jin), the village headman assigned to keep watch over him. It drew 1 million viewers in five days of release, passed its break-even point (2.6 million) in 14 days, and reached 10 million admissions on March 6.