New action film “The Roundup: No Way Out” starring Don Lee landed at second place at the domestic box office even before its official release.

“The Roundup: No Way Out” gathered 304,000 viewers over the weekend, according to the integrated computer network for theater ticket sales of the Korea Film Council on Monday.

Even though the official release of “The Roundup: No Way Out” is on May 31, large multiplexes such as Megabox and CGV have started limited screenings from Saturday. This is seen as a strategy to create word-of-mouth reviews for box office success.

Over the weekend, “The Roundup: No Way Out” beat the new Marvel Studios film “The Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3” and Disney’s live-action remake “The Little Mermaid.” Each film sold 251,000 tickets and 229,000 tickets, respectively.

“The Roundup: No Way Out” is second only to “Fast & Furious 10” at the weekend box office, which sold 323,000 tickets.

Audience reviews of the film are also good, with the CGV Golden Egg Index, which reflects the evaluation of filmgoers, recording 99 percent as of Monday.

“The Roundup: No Way Out” is the third installment in a series of action films after “The Outlaws” (2017) and “The Roundup” (2020). “The Roundup” attracted 12.69 million viewers in Korea alone in 2022, the only domestically-produced film to gain more than 10 million viewers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Roundup: No Way Out” tells the story of “monster cop” Ma Suk-do, played by Don Lee, who chases two villains involved in an international drug ring.


BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]