Hope Pre-Sales Record: Na Hong-jin Film Tops 500,000 Advance Tickets Before Release

Na Hong-jin’s film “Hope” established a major Hope pre-sales record before its Korean theatrical opening, passing 500,000 advance ticket reservations on July 14. The milestone was reported one day before the film’s July 15 release, with multiple Korean outlets citing Korean Film Council integrated ticketing network data for the fast-rising reservation total.¹

The film’s pre-sales climbed from roughly 374,500 reservations on the morning of July 13 to more than 500,000 by early afternoon on July 14, placing it at the top of the advance ticket rankings ahead of release.² Edaily reported via Daum that “Hope” crossed the 500,000 mark at about 1:50 p.m. on July 14, with a real-time reservation rate of 65.8%.³

Hope Pre-Sales Record Builds Before July 15 Opening

The reservation surge put “Hope” among the strongest Korean theatrical openings in the post-pandemic period before audiences had broadly seen the film in cinemas. Edaily reported that it was the third Korean film since the COVID-19 pandemic to exceed 500,000 pre-sale tickets, following “The Roundup 4” and “The Roundup: No Way Out.”³

Dispatch separately reported that the film had passed 500,000 advance reservations as of 2 p.m. on July 14, with a reservation share of 65.7%.¹ The slight difference in reported rate reflects the timing of real-time ticketing data, not a different underlying trend: across the July 14 reports, “Hope” held a dominant lead in advance reservations immediately before release.

Earlier same-day figures show how quickly the total moved. JoyNews24 reported 469,408 advance reservations at 8:40 a.m. on July 14, with the reservation rate at 64.7%.⁴ MBC News also reported that the film had already passed 400,000 advance reservations ahead of its July 15 opening and described it as the year’s highest advance reservation total at that point.⁵

A Post-Pandemic Korean Box Office Benchmark

The 500,000 pre-sale threshold gives “Hope” a notable position in the Korean theatrical market because the cited comparison group is limited. Edaily’s report identified only two earlier Korean films in the post-COVID-19 period that had reached the same level of pre-release ticket sales: “The Roundup 4” and “The Roundup: No Way Out.”³

The comparison is significant because it places “Hope” not only ahead of ordinary release-week traffic but also within a small group of Korean titles that generated unusually high ticketing demand before opening day. The available source material does not provide total production budget, screen count, or confirmed opening-day admissions, so the pre-sales data should be read specifically as a reservation benchmark rather than a completed box office result.

MBC News reported that “Hope” was also far ahead of upcoming foreign releases including “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in the reservation race.⁵ The report did not provide the competing films’ exact reservation totals, but it framed the gap as part of the film’s lead before the July 15 opening.

Cast, Distributor and Release Campaign

“Hope” is Na Hong-jin’s first feature since “The Wailing,” according to Newsis, which also listed Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton among the cast.² The film’s mix of Korean and international actors has been part of the broader release conversation, though the available pre-sales reports focus primarily on reservation volume rather than plot details or critical response.

Plus M Entertainment, identified in the source material as the film’s Korean distributor, posted the official international main trailer for “Hope” on its verified YouTube channel on July 8. The video description identifies it as the international main trailer and includes a ticketing link tied to the July 15 Korean theatrical release campaign.⁶

The source-backed data shows a clear pre-release trajectory: first place in reservations on July 13, more than 400,000 advance tickets before opening, 469,408 by the morning of July 14, and more than 500,000 by early afternoon the same day.⁴

For the July 15 release, the key confirmed point is the strength of the advance ticket base. Whether “Hope” converts that reservation lead into a larger box office total will depend on post-opening admissions, but its pre-sales record was already established before the film reached general audiences.

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Cloi Lee

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