A three-way showdown among Korean films has kicked off to ride the momentum of Zootopia 2 at the box office.
According to the Korean Film Council's KOBIS database on the 3rd, Zootopia 2, which screened yesterday, held the No. 1 spot with 141,454 admissions, bringing its cumulative total to 2,400,922. As of Dec. 1, the film also surpassed a worldwide cumulative gross of $556.4 million (approximately 817.96 billion won), topping the 2025 global opening chart.
Against that backdrop, a K-comedy led by Heo Sung-tae and Cho Bok-rae opens today (Dec. 3), looking to catch the same wave of Zootopia 2's heat.
The Informant is a crime-action comedy about Oh Nam-hyeok (played by Heo Sung-tae), a once-ace detective who's been demoted, and his informant Jo Tae-bong (Cho Bok-rae) stumbling into a high-stakes case. Even before release, the film drew buzz as the opening selection of the 24th New York Asian Film Festival and for winning Best Foreign Language Film at the 2025 Asian International Film Festival.
The film's breezy humor is already sparking hot word of mouth. Early viewers are leaving reactions like "#a blast #must-watch" and calling it "a perfect time-killer you can enjoy without any heavy lifting." In particular, comments such as "I loved Heo Sung-tae's fresh transformation" highlight the cast's chemistry and chameleon-like turns.
Opening day also brings Upstairs Neighbors to theaters alongside The Informant. As of 7 a.m. today, it logged 39,698 pre-sale tickets, outpacing opening-day pre-sales for Noise (22,310), the year's breakout inter-floor noise thriller.
Following preview screenings, Upstairs Neighbors is being dubbed "a spicier 'Intimate Strangers'," fast emerging as a dark horse for the winter box office. The film tracks an unpredictable night when an upstairs couple (Ha Jung-woo and Lee Ha-nee) and a downstairs couple (Gong Hyo-jin and Kim Dong-wook) sit down for dinner after nightly, out-of-the-ordinary inter-floor noise drives them to meet, with the four stars delivering tightly tuned performances with their own rhythm and timing.
Rounding out today's three-way Korean face-off is Concrete Market. Set after a massive earthquake, the story follows Hwanggung Market—set up inside the only apartment complex left standing—where people start bartering and trading in their own ways to survive. The film shares the broader 'concrete' universe with post-quake titles like Concrete Utopia and Wasteland.
With a stacked cast including Lee Jae-in, Hong Kyung, Jung Man-sik, and Yoo Su-bin, expectations are high for an acting showcase.
Three Korean releases are clashing head-on today. All eyes are on which title will crack a smile first—and whether the homegrown trio, together, can cool off the blazing run of Zootopia 2 at No. 1.