'The King's Warden,' 'Humint' vie for box-office crown during Lunar New Year holiday

▲ A still from "The King's Warden" is seen in this image provided by Showbox Co. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This still from "Humint," provided by NEW (Next Entertainment World), shows actor Zo In-sung as Manager Cho, a South Korean national intelligence officer. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Korean movies-holiday

'The King's Warden,' 'Humint' vie for box-office crown during Lunar New Year holiday

SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- Two Korean movies, "The King's Warden" and "Humint," are competing for first place at the domestic box office during the Lunar New Year holiday, data showed Saturday.

"The King's Warden," a historical drama, is leading the box-office chart, with an advance ticket sales rate of 44 percent as of 9 a.m., outperforming the 28.7 percent logged by action thriller "Humint."

Directed by Jang Hang-jun, the former reimagines historical events through a fictional lens, following the unlikely friendship between village chief Eom Heung-do (Yoo Hai-jin) and the young, deposed King Danjong (Park Ji-hoon) during the latter's exile in the village.

It has attracted nearly 1.5 million viewers since its Feb. 4 release, becoming the first Korean film this year to surpass the 1 million admission milestone.

The runner-up, Ryoo Seung-wan's action thriller "Humint," has drawn a cumulative audience of 304,738 since it was released Wednesday.

Short for human intelligence, "Humint" follows Manager Cho (Zo In-sung), a South Korean national intelligence officer who forms an unlikely cooperation with Park Gun, a North Korean intelligence officer, to save his crucial informant Chae Sun-hwa (Shin Se-kyung).

The extended holiday began Saturday and runs through Wednesday, with the Lunar New Year falling on Tuesday.

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