The Roundup: Punishment hits 2 million moviegoers but can it catch up to Exhuma?
Michelle Topham 
The Roundup: Punishment has hit another big achievement four days after it released in South Korea just over a week ago by grabbing the attention of 2 million moviegoers.
The film’s huge success was partially fueled by its ability to attract high advance reservation rates, with hundreds of thousands of Koreans buying tickets to see the film before it even came out.
That kind of hype, of course, promotes more hype, so it’s no wonder The Roundup: Punishment had passed the 1 million moviegoer mark a day after it premiered on April 24th.
Fast forward to four days after its release and, according to the film’s distributor ABO Entertainment, The Roundup: Punishment then passed the 2 million moviegoers mark.
The Roundup: Punishment‘s main rival Exhuma
Of course, another film released in 2024 — Exhuma — also pulled in huge numbers its opening weekend, and also grabbed more than 2 million moviegoers the fourth day after it released.
That film went on to attract more than 11 million moviegoers before it had finished and to become the 20th highest-grossing film of all-time in South Korea.
The latest gross revenue figures also show Exhuma earnings of $82,901,729 versus The Roundup: Punishment‘s $13,128,172 so far.
In other words, can The Roundup: Punishment catch up to Exhuma’s enormous achievement, or even surpass it?
While there is no reason why not, just like I had my doubts that Exhuma would catch up to 12.12: The Day‘s 13.1 million moviegoers number (it didn’t, btw), I have my doubts the latest The Roundup film will pass the 11.8 million admissions Exhuma has currently earned.
Let’s check back in a few weeks, and see if I am right.
Until then, all I can say is The Roundup: Punishment star Ma Dong Seok must be thrilled right about now, as his only goal for the latest film in the franchise was to “break even”, which he also stated was at around 3.2 million admissions.
I can safely say I am absolutely sure the film will grab far more than that.
Congratulations, sir, and fingers crossed your movie will earn a helluva lot more before it’s done!
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