‘Along With the Gods 2′ tops 12 mln admissions

SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) — Summer box office sensation “Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days” surpassed 12 million in attendance on Thursday, the film’s distributor said.

The local action fantasy film hit 12,000,036 cumulative admissions at 1 p.m. based on data from the Korean Film Council, Lotte Entertainment said.

On Monday, the movie became the 13th-most-watched film ever in South Korea, surpassing “Taegukgi,” which was seen by 11.74 million people in 2004.

“Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds,” the first installment of the two-part series directed by Kim Yong-hwa, is currently the second-most-watched film of all time with 14.41 million admissions. In a country with a population of 51 million, 10 million in terms of attendance is a standard for hugely successful films.

Starring Ha Jung-woo, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi, “The Last 49 Days” is the second installment in the franchise and tells the story of three grim reapers from the first installment meeting the Seongju God (House Guardian God), who remembers their pasts from 1,000 years ago.

The latest release has also been popular in other Asian countries. In Taiwan, it became the second-highest-grossing Korean movie of all time in the country, with the first film of the franchise on the throne. In Hong Kong, “The Last 49 Days” reached 46 million Hong Kong dollars in sales on the 21st day of its run, a pace faster than its predecessor.

The film is also scheduled to open in 14 South American countries starting from Sept. 17.