Showbox Co., Ltd. () is one of the largest film distribution companies in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, founded in 1999. Showbox is the film investment, production and distribution branch of Mediaplex, Inc., entertainment arm of

Orion Group Orion Corporation ( fi, Orion Oyj), founded in 1917 and headquartered at Espoo, Finland, is a globally operating Finnish company which develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients ...

. Its main competitors for domestic box office are

CJ Entertainment CJ Entertainment (Hangul: CJ 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean film production and distribution company under CJ ENM. The company operates as a film production company, film publishing house, investment and exhibition. History During early 1 ...

Lotte Entertainment Lotte Cultureworks ( ko, 롯데 컬처웍스), formerly known as Lotte Entertainment ( ko, 롯데 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean film production and distribution company. Established in the Republic of Korea, the company has distributed fi ...

, and

Next Entertainment World Next Entertainment World (Korean: 넥스트엔터테인먼트월드, Acronym: NEW) is a South Korean media content production and distribution company. The film investment and distribution business was founded in 2008 by former Showbox presid ...

(NEW). 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 ''The Thieves'' () is a 2012 South Korean heist action comedy film directed by Choi Dong-hoon with an ensemble cast. With over 12.9 million ticket sales, the action comedy is the ninth highest-grossing film in Korean film history. Plot Yen ...

''.

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 ''Sex Is Zero'' () is a 2002 South Korean film written and directed by Yoon Je-kyoon, starring Im Chang-jung and Ha Ji-won. In the style of American gross-out comedies like '' American Pie'', it follows the exploits of a group of college student ...

premiers and becomes the fifth most popular film of 2002; selling 4 million tickets. * February 2004:

Taegukgi The national flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegukgi (also spelled as ''Taegeukgi'', ) and colloquially known as the flag of Korea, has three parts: a white rectangular background, a red and blue Taegeuk in its center, accompanied by fo ...

premiers and hits a new record of 11.74 million tickets sold. * August 2005:

Welcome to Dongmakgol ''Welcome to Dongmakgol'' (), also known as ''Battle Ground 625'' ( UK), is a 2005 South Korean film. Based on the same-titled long-running stage play by filmmaker/playwright Jang Jin, Park Kwang-hyun's debut film was a commercial and critical su ...

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 Macquarie may refer to: People * Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. * Elizabeth Macquarie Campbell, Lachlan Macquarie's second wife Locations * Division of Macquarie, an electoral district in th ...

Investment Fund. * August 2007:

D-War ''D-War'' (Korean: 디워, released in North America as ''Dragon Wars: D-War''), is a 2007 South Korean action-adventure fantasy film written and directed by Shim Hyung-rae, and starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, and Elizabeth Pe ...

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 The Chaser are an Australian satirical comedy group, best known for their television programmes and satirical news masthead. The group take their name from their satirical newspaper, a publication known to challenge conventions of taste. The ...

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 ''Secret Reunion'' (; lit. "Sworn Brothers" or "Blood Brothers") is a 2010 South Korean action film directed by Jang Hoon, and one of the highest grossing Korean films of 2010. The story follows Song Kang-ho as Agent Lee Han-gyoo of the Nation ...

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:

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 ''Secretly, Greatly'' () is a 2013 South Korean action comedy-drama film starring Kim Soo-hyun, Park Ki-woong, and Lee Hyun-woo, who play North Korean spies who infiltrate South Korea as a village idiot, a rock musician, and a high school studen ...

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. * September 2013:

The Face Reader ''The Face Reader'' (; lit. "Physiognomy") is a 2013 South Korean film starring Song Kang-ho as the son of a disgraced noble family who goes around Joseon and a ''gwansang'' expert. He is able to assess the personality, mental state and habits of ...

premiers and became one of the highest-grossing films in South Korea in 2013; selling 9.1 million tickets. * May 2014:

A Hard Day ''A Hard Day'' (; lit. "Take It to the End") is a 2014 South Korean action thriller film written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Jin-woong. It was selected to compete in the Directors' Fortnight section of the ...

premiers and sells 3.44 million tickets. * February 2015: Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island premiers and the 9th highest grossing film of 2015; selling 3.87 million tickets. * March 2015: entered into an exclusive partnership with one of the biggest Chinese entertainment companies,

Huayi Brothers Huayi Brothers Media Corp. () is a Chinese multinational entertainment company that owns a film studio, a television production company, a talent agency, a record label, and a movie theater chain founded in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Maca ...

, and expanding its way to China and a co-produced partnership with the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

genre movie studio

Blumhouse Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum. It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidiou ...

. * 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 Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

production industry. It signed a consignment deal with generalist network

JTBC JTBC (shortened from ''Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company'' (; stylized as jtbc) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on 1 December 2011. JTBC ...

, being the second film company to do so (the first being

NEW New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

).[단독] 쇼박스 첫 드라마 '이태원클라쓰'·'대세녀', JTBC에서 본다
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Releases

Films

Television series

Notes

References

{{Authority control Orion Group subsidiaries Film distributors of South Korea Film production companies of South Korea Television production companies of South Korea Mass media companies established in 1999 South Korean companies established in 1999 Companies based in Seoul