The romantic drama "Once We Were Us", led by Koo Kyo-hwan and Moon Ga-young, is hot on the heels of 2025 juggernaut "Avatar: Fire and Ash" at the Korean box office ― and the chase is getting tight.
According to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracker on Jan. 6, "Once We Were Us" drew 47,857 admissions on Jan. 5 to hold at No. 2. The film has now sold a cumulative 540,976 tickets.
While it remained in second place over the weekend, the gap with No. 1 title "Avatar: Fire and Ash" has narrowed to just 11,094 admissions. That’s especially impressive given "Once We Were Us" is playing on roughly half the resources ― about 826 screens and 2,522 showtimes, compared to "Avatar: Fire and Ash"s 1,588 screens and 4,409 showings.
"Once We Were Us" is also winning on efficiency: its seat occupancy hit 15.5%, outpacing "Avatar: Fire and Ash"s 8.8%, signaling stronger demand per available seat.
The surge appears to be fueled by strong word of mouth. On Naver’s audience score, "Once We Were Us" sits at 9.24 ― the highest among current releases.
"Once We Were Us" follows Eun-ho and Jung-won, former lovers who reconnect a decade later and sift through the fragments of their shared past. The film is a Korean remake tailored from the 2018 Chinese hit "Us and Them." All eyes are on whether this romance can defy the genre’s traditionally limited reach and push past its break-even point, estimated at around 1 million admissions.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)