Up 22.5 percent from last year

Ticket sales of South Korean films in November reached around 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels, data showed Thursday, largely helped by the hit historical drama 12.12: The Day."

November sales of the Korean film industry came to 41.1 billion won (US$31.69 million), 70.2 percent of the three-year average of 58.6 billion won logged from 2017-19, according to a recent report by the Korean Film Council.

The figure was up 22.5 percent from last year.

By the number of moviegoers, 4.32 million people went to see Korean films last month, up 24.2 percent from the previous month and accounting for 60.2 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

This photo provided by Plus M Entertainment shows a scene from "12.12: The Day." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The council attributed the growth in income and audience numbers to the huge popularity of 12.12: The Day.

Since its release on Nov. 22, the historical saga about South Korea's military coup in 1979 attracted 2.95 million people to local theaters by the end of the month, about half of all the people who went to see Korean films in November.

Inspired by real events, the film recounts the heart-pounding nine hours of confrontation between Chun Doo-kwang, head of the Defense Security Command, who orchestrates a military coup to seize power on Dec. 12, 1979, and Capital Defense Cdr. Lee Tae-shin, who risks everything to oppose the coup.

It reached its break-even point of 4.6 million ticket sales early last week and topped seven million ticket sales earlier this week.

The council expects it to become the second movie of the year that passes the milestone of 10 million ticket sales after The Roundup: No Way Out.

By Woo Jae-yeon