The Man Who Lives with the King eyes weekend top spot

Feb 09, 2026, 08:06 am

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The historical film The Man Who Lives with the King is gaining strong word-of-mouth momentum. / Courtesy of Showbox

The historical drama The Man Who Lives with the King is gaining traction on strong word of mouth, putting it on course to claim the top spot at the box office over its opening weekend.

According to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking system on Thursday, the film ranked first in reservation rates as of 9 a.m., commanding 32.6 percent of advance bookings. It has effectively locked in the No. 1 position for its first weekend, widening the gap with second-place contender Humint, which stood at 25.2 percent ahead of its Feb. 11 release. The difference between the two films’ reservation rates more than doubled from 3.5 percentage points the previous day to 7.4 points.

Industry observers attribute the widening gap to a steady rise in admissions for The Man Who Lives with the King and the rapid spread of positive audience feedback.

Directed by Jang Hang-jun, the film depicts the friendship between deposed King Danjong, played by Park Ji-hoon, and village head Eom Heung-do, portrayed by Yoo Hae-jin, following the king’s exile. Embracing the classic conventions of a successful historical drama, the movie added 91,740 admissions on its second day, lifting its cumulative audience to roughly 240,000 and securing the daily box office crown for a second consecutive day.

Audience response has also been notably favorable. As of Thursday morning, the film posted a 97 percent score on CGV’s Golden Egg Index and a 9.14 out of 10 rating on Naver, reflecting strong viewer satisfaction.

A film industry producer said that while The Man Who Lives with the King is off to a promising start, the real test will come after Humint opens on Feb. 11. “It’s been a long time since two high-quality Korean films have engaged in fair competition at the same time,” the producer noted. “That’s why there’s already so much curiosity about how the Lunar New Year box office will turn out.”

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