South Korean box office admissions jumped a massive 21.9% in 2012 compared to the year before, according to a recent Korean Film Council (KOFIC) report.

Korean cinemas saw a total of 194.89 million admissions last year, with box office gross up 17.7% to $1.3bn.

KOFIC also reports that Korean films were at their highest profitability rate at 13%, up 5.1% compared to 2005.

With two major local box office hits – The Thieves and Masquerade – going over 10 million admissions, local films took 57.9% of box office gross, up from 49.8% in 2011.

US films took 35.6%, down 10% year-on-year.

European films took 4.3% of market share, up from from 2% the previous year.

Japanese films went down slightly from 1.6% to 1.4%, while Chinese films stayed the same at 0.3%.

Top 10 films in 2012

(title/country/distributor/gross)

1. The Thieves (Korea) Showbox/Mediaplex - $86.4m

2. Masquerade (Korea) CJ E&M - $82m

3. The Avengers (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea - $55m

4. A Werewolf Boy (Korea) CJ E&M - $45.6m

5. The Dark Knight Rises (US) Warner Brothers Korea - $43.9m

6. The Amazing Spider-man (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea - $37.9m

7. Nameless Gangster: Rules Of The Time (Korea) Showbox/Mediaplex - $33.6m

8. The Grand Heist (Korea) NEW - $31.8m

9. All About My Wife (Korea) NEW - $31.6m

10. Deranged (Korea) CJ E&M - $29.6m

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