'Minari' hits No. 1 in presale tickets in S. Korea after winning at Golden Globes

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- The upcoming drama film "Minari" topped the advance box office sales in South Korea on the back of its Golden Globes win, data showed Tuesday, which is expected to boost the virus-hit local cinemas.

The film about a Korean-American immigrant family recorded over 26,100 presold tickets as of 4 p.m., which translates into around 35 percent of all tickets reserved here, according to data from the Korean Film Council. It will hit the local theaters Wednesday.

It far outnumbers the runner-up, "Raya and the Last Dragon" by Walt Disney Pictures, which posted around 14,000 ticket presales before dropping Thursday.

This reflects Korean moviegoers' high anticipation for "Minari," as the film won best motion picture in the foreign language category of the U.S. Golden Globe Awards on Monday (Korean time).

It is the second Korean-language film to earn the title following Bong Joon-ho's family satire "Parasite" last year.

Written and directed by Korean-American director Lee Isaac Chung, the movie tells the story of a Korean immigrant family that moves to Arkansas in the 1980s and sets up a farm to pursue its own American dream.

"Minari" is titled after the namesake watery vegetable used in many Korean dishes. It is tough enough to survive everywhere and robust in flavor, serving as a metaphor for the family who struggles and survives in the new world to realize their dream.

While the movie has become an odds-on favorite for the upcoming Oscars, it has become the center of controversy, as organizers of the Golden Globes put it in the best foreign-language film category, not in best picture, citing that its dialogue is mostly in Korean.

nyway@yna.co.kr
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