From nail-biting moments to tearful victories or failures, sports films deliver the full emotional spectrum, making audiences feel every high and low alongside the characters. There’s also nothing more interesting than seeing true stories brought to life on screen. As a result, sports — especially those inspired by real-life events or athletes — have long been a favorite subject for filmmakers.

However, in Korea, sports films based on true stories often struggle to evoke as much excitement among audiences as other films inspired by true stories.


Take "The Match," which hit theaters on March 26.

Directed by Kim Hyung-ju and based on a true story, the film centers around Cho Hoon-hyun and Lee Chang-ho, two masters of Go, which is known as baduk in Korea. It follows Cho’s journey to regain his winning title after losing to his own student Lee Chang-ho.

Despite starring extremely well-known actors — Lee Byung-hun plays Cho Hoon-hyun, and Yoo Ah-in plays Lee Chang-ho — the film underperformed, having inched just past its breakeven point of 1.8 million tickets as of Sunday, just over two weeks into its run. It has yet to reach 2 million sales — the threshold of moderate success for a commercial film.

By comparison, “12.12: The Day” (2023), based on the 1979 military coup d’état in Seoul, passed its breakeven point of 4.65 million in less than two weeks. “Firefighters” (2024), which depicts a 2001 fire in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, reached 2.5 million — a higher target than that of "The Match" — in 19 days.

The historical film “Harbin” (2024) — about the 1909 assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito, with a star-studded cast including, Hyun Bin, Park Jeong-min, Jo Woo-jin and Lee Dong-wook — sold 2 million tickets in its first five days.

In fact, not one sports film has reached 10 million tickets in Korea — a threshold the entertainment industry considers an indicator of massive commercial success as well as cultural impact.

“Take Off” (2009), inspired by Korea's ski jumping team in the leadup to the 1998 Winter Olympics, came the closest with 8.03 million tickets sold during its theatrical run.

But since that year, very few reality-based sports films have captured noticeable interest from domestic audiences. “Race to Freedom: Um Bok Dong” (2019), based on the real cyclist of the same name, sold just 170,000 tickets. “Road to Boston” (2023), depicting Korean marathoner Suh Yun-bok in the days following Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, sold 1.02 million. “Dream” (2023), about Korea's Homeless World Cup, sold 1.12 million. All of them failed to break even. "Take Off" remains the only Korean sports film on the nation's top 100 box office list. “Marathon” (2005), following marathon runner Yoon Cho-won, follows at No. 168 with 4.19 million ticket sales.

But Korea is no stranger to sports films. Since 1959 with the first Korean sports film "A Vanished Dream," Korean filmmakers have released endless and various projects in the genre, every year. So why don't they make any money?

An unbridgeable gap

Modern Koreans place a high significance on their country's past, which drives the popularity of many domestic historical movies.

“Korea has a dynamic history,” said pop culture critic Sung Sang-min. “The past, like what ‘12.12: The Day’ and ‘Harbin’ delved into, continues to influence history to this day."

Sung continued, "Korea is not a country with a settled or stable history — there's ongoing instability, deepening conflict and many unresolved issues from the past. In such a context, history is not merely a thing of the past for audiences, but a powerful and inescapable presence."

But that doesn't quite extend to sports narratives. For one, it's uniquely difficult for movies to replicate the experience of a live sporting event, according to Sung.

“People often say that sports are like unscripted dramas — but when it comes to sports films, whether they're based on true stories or not, they obviously ‘need’ a script,” Sung said. “Sports themselves may be unscripted, but sports movies aren't. They require a screenplay, editing and maybe even some CG [computer graphic] effects to make everything look convincing and cinematic.”

“So for people who truly love sports, no matter how well the film is made, there’s often a lingering sense that something's missing.”


But it's also true that the modern media landscape makes it much more common for potential audiences to look up real stories or stumble upon spoilers. Now that potential viewers can satisfy their curiosity about a historical sporting event with just a few seconds searching online, there are fewer hidden heroes, according to culture critic Kim Hern-sik.

“In the past, as many true stories remained relatively unknown, many people were finding themselves drawn to theaters out of curiosity,” Kim Hern-sik said. "But now that we live in a smart, mobile-driven world where information is widely shared, anyone can look up the true story anytime."

Sung also believes that non-sports historical narratives tend to be more accessible and emotionally engaging for audiences than sports stories.

"People are more likely to go see a movie if it’s about something they’re already familiar with or curious about," which is more likely to be the case with historical films, Sung said.


Those factors all came together to put “The Match" in a tough spot.

“The two main Go masters are well-known, especially among older generations and fans of Go, so the film seems to be drawing some attention,” Kim Hern-sik said. “But overall, it doesn’t feel like it has the explosive appeal to reach a wider audience.”

A slightly brighter future

Declining interest in sports films is not unique to Korea. Audiences in the United States, home to sports classics such as boxing franchise “Rocky” (1976-2006), football film “The Blind Side” (2009) and baseball film “Moneyball” (2011), are also souring on the genre. That's made such projects harder to finance.


“The audience hasn’t supported sports films," Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of upcoming film “F1,” told Sports Business Journal. "They don’t travel well, so they don’t do well overseas. So the studios are reticent to greenlight them, and they’re very hard to get made.”

Are Korean sports films headed in the same direction? Maybe — but there's still time to reverse course, according to Sung.

The critic believes the answer lies in a pivot to documentaries — films that capture the completely unscripted drama of real-life sporting events. Those "can appeal to dedicated fan communities," Sung said.

For example, "Samurai Beyond Admiration Record to the World's Best" (2023), a documentary about Japan's victory journey in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, saw major theatrical success, with 850,000 people seeing the film during its three-week limited run, according to the World Basebal Softball Confederation. The project eventually secured distribution on Amazon Prime Video.

“This format has already carved out a significant presence overseas," Sung said. "It could gain meaningful traction here in Korea as well."


BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]