Sin Min-a's 'Nundongja' tops Korean box office in week two, nears 500K admissions

Nundongja (눈동자) hit overall box office #1 eight days after opening on June 24, then held the top spot for two consecutive days. The film drew 49,098 viewers on June 1 and 50,724 on June 2, edging out Toy Story 5, which pulled 44,069 viewers for second place on June 2. By June 3, cumulative admissions had reached 482,861.

It's a second-week rebound for a film that opened to 34,938 viewers and faced mixed early reviews. Audiences initially complained about predictable pacing, but word-of-mouth around the direction and performances has since picked up. The CGV Golden Egg score sits at 89 points. Viewers in their 20s make up the largest share.

Sin Min-a carries the film in a dual role: Seo Jin, a woman slowly losing her sight to a genetic disease, and her twin sister Seo In, whose death Seo Jin investigates. Kim Nam-hee (김남희) plays detective Do Hyuk, the investigator tracking the case. Director Yeom Ji-ho (염지호) adapted the Spanish film Julia's Eyes for Korean audiences and drew on Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick to build tension.

The film was produced by Dream Capture and Time Heist, and distributed by Byfoem Studio and Ihwa Baekcom Company. Domestic genre films have found traction this year: horror title Salmokji surpassed 3.23 million cumulative viewers. Backrooms crossed 1 million. The break-even point is estimated at approximately 1.8 million admissions.