Showbox

This article is about the South Korean film production and distribution company. For other meanings of Showbox, see Showbox (disambiguation).

Showbox Entertainment

Showbox logo
Native name
Korean name
Hangul	쇼박스
Revised Romanization	Syobakseu
McCune–Reischauer	Syobaksŭ
Formerly	Showbox Mediaplex Co., Inc. (쇼박스㈜미디어플렉스)
Company type	Joint-stock
Traded as	KRX: 086980 (July 7, 2006)
Industry	Entertainment, media
Predecessor	Media Flex Co., Ltd.
Founded	June 10, 1999;25 years ago (1999-06-10) in Seoul, South Korea
Founder	Yoo Jung-hoon
Successor	Showbox Co., Ltd.
Headquarters	Nambusunhwan, Gangnam, Seoul , South Korea
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Yoo Jung-hoon (CEO & founder)
Services	Film distribution
Revenue	12,327,000,000 won (2014)
Operating income	2,086,000,000 won
Net income	20000,000 won
Total equity	105,272,000,000 won (2014)
Owner	Orion Holdings: 57.50% Lee Hwa-kyung: 0.3% Kumho Asiana Group: 4.00% Sega Sammy Group: 5.78% China Media Capital: 25.00%
Website	www.showbox.co.kr

Showbox Co., Ltd. (Korean : 쇼박스) is a South Korean film distribution and production company. It is one of the largest film distribution companies in South Korea, founded in 1999. ^[1] Showbox is the film investment, production and distribution branch of Mediaplex, Inc., entertainment arm of Orion Group and Kumho Asiana Group. Its main competitors for domestic box office are CJ Entertainment, Lotte Entertainment and Next Entertainment World. Despite having very short history in the industry, they managed to have top 6 of 10 blockbusters in Korean box office history, number 1 being 2012's The Thieves .

History

• June 1996: Establishment of Media Flex Co., Ltd. to enter the movie business.
• November 1999: Establishment of Megabox to enter the movie theater business.
• January 2002: Establishment of ShowBox brand and start of movie distribution investment.
• December 2002: Their first film Sex Is Zero premiers and becomes the fifth most popular film of 2002; selling 4 million tickets.
• February 2004: Taegukgi premiers and hits a new record of 11.74 million tickets sold.
• August 2005: Welcome to Dongmakgol premiers and becomes (at the time) as the fourth highest grossing South Korean film of all time; selling 8 million tickets.
• July 2006: The Host premiers and setting a new record of being (at the time) the highest grossing South Korean film of all time; selling 13 million tickets.
• July 2007: Megabox is sold to Macquarie Investment Fund.
• August 2007:D-War premiers and setting a new record of being (at the time) the highest-budgeted South Korean film of all time; selling 8.42 million tickets.
• February 2008: The Chaser premiers and sells 5 million tickets.
• July 2009: Take Off premiers and becomes the 2nd most attended film of the year in South Korea; selling 8.39 million tickets.
• February 2010: Secret Reunion premiers and becomes one of the highest grossing Korean films of 2010; selling 5.5 million tickets.
• January 2011: Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow premiers and becomes the 4th best selling Korean film of 2011; selling 4.78 million tickets.
• February 2012: Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time premiers and sells 4.71 million thousand tickets.
• July 2012: The Thieves premiers and becomes (at the time) as the fifth highest-grossing movie in Korean film history; selling 12.9 million tickets.
• May 2013: Secretly, Greatly premiers and breaks several box office records in South Korea: the highest single day opening for a domestic film, most tickets sold in one day for a domestic film, the biggest opening weekend, the highest-grossing webtoon-based film, and the fastest movie to reach the million, two million, three million, and four million marks in audience number; selling 4.71 million tickets. ^{[2] [3]}
• September 2013: The Face Reader premiers and became one of the highest-grossing films in South Korea in 2013; selling 9.1 million tickets. ^[4]
• May 2014: A Hard Day premiers and sells 3.44 million tickets. ^[5]
• February 2015: Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island premiers and the 9th highest-grossing film of 2015; selling 3.87 million tickets. ^{[6] [7]}
• March 2015: entered into an exclusive partnership with one of the biggest Chinese entertainment companies, Huayi Brothers, and expanding its way to China and a co-produced partnership with the Hollywood genre movie studio Blumhouse. ^{[8] [9]}
• June 2015: Changed the company names from Showbox Mediaplex Co., Inc. to Showbox Co., Ltd., in a step to unify the brand name.
• March 2019: Showbox entered the drama production industry. It signed a consignment deal with generalist network JTBC, being the second film company to do so (the first being NEW). ^[10]

Releases

Films

See also: Category:Showbox films

Click on the 'Show' button to view this table

Year	Title	Production Country	Release date [a]	Production type	Notes
2002	Addicted	South Korea	October 25, 2002	Live action	Distribution [b]
	Sex Is Zero		December 12, 2002
2003	Double Agent		January 24, 2003
	Garden of Heaven		April 4, 2003
	Adaptation	United States	May 5, 2003
	Oh Brothers	South Korea	September 5, 2003
	Underworld	United States United Kingdom Germany Hungary	September 26, 2003		Import Distribution
	Silver Knife	South Korea	October 24, 2003		Distribution
	North Korean Guys		December 31, 2003
2004	Ice Rain		January 16, 2004
	Spy Girl		January 30, 2004		Provider
	Taegukgi		February 5, 2004
	The Human Stain	United States	March 3, 2004		Import Distribution
	Dance with Solitude	South Korea	March 19, 2004		Distribution
	The Last Wolf		April 4, 2004
	The Big Swindle		April 15, 2004
	The President's Barber		May 5, 2004
	Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior	Thailand	May 26, 2004		Import Distribution
	Dead Friend	South Korea	June 17, 2004		Distribution
	One Missed Call	Japan	September 7, 2004		Import Distribution
	Temptation of Wolves	South Korea	July 22, 2004		Distribution
	To Catch a Virgin Ghost		August 13, 2004
	Around the World in 80 Days	United States United Kingdom Germany Ireland	September 17, 2004		Import Distribution
	Crying Out Love in the Center of the World	Japan	October 10, 2004		Distribution
	The Scarlet Letter	South Korea	October 29, 2004		Provider
	The Butterfly Effect	United States	November 12, 2004		Distribution
	Blade: Trinity		December 15, 2004		Import Distribution
	Shinsukki Blues	South Korea	December 30, 2004		Provider

Television series

Year	Title	Original title	Network	Associated production	Ref.
2020	Itaewon Class	이태원 클라쓰	JTBC	Zium Content Itaewon Class Production Partners	[10] [11]
2025	The Witch	마녀	Channel A	Mr Romance	[12]
TBA	Dolled Up	대세녀	TBA		[10]

Notes

1. Release date in South Korea
2. In South Korea

References

1. "ShowBox 회사연혁" [ShowBox History]. www.showbox.co.kr. HOME > COMPANY (in Korean).
2. Byun, hee-won (June 10, 2013). "Secretly Greatly Blazes Trail at Box Office by Tapping Teen Audience". The Chosun Ilbo . Retrieved June 10, 2013.
3. Yun, Suh-young (June 10, 2013). "Secretly success shows teen power at box office". The Korea Times . Retrieved June 19, 2013.
4. Lee, Hyo-won (November 1, 2013). "The Face Reader Shines at South Korea's Dae Jong Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 5, 2013.
5. "A Hard Day (2014)". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
6. Kim, Hee-eun (June 10, 2014). "Detective K team returns to set". Korea JoongAng Daily . Retrieved December 15, 2014.
7. Tae, Sang-joon (June 16, 2014). "DETECTIVE K: LABORER'S DAUGHTER to Crankin in June". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
8. Lee, Hyo-won (March 25, 2015). "South Korea's Showbox and China's Huayi Bros. Ink Co-Production Deal". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 4, 2017.
9. "Hand In Hand With China - Korea-Chinese Co-production Creates Global Demand". Business Korea. March 26, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
10. [단독] 쇼박스 첫 드라마 '이태원클라쓰'·'대세녀', JTBC에서 본다
11. 박서준X김다미X유재명 '이태원클라쓰' 캐스팅 확정(공식)
12. "뉴스 : 네이버 엔터". m.entertain.naver.com. Retrieved 2025-01-10.