[HanCinema's News] "The Roundup: Punishment" Marks First Successful Fourth Installment of a South Korean Franchise Film

Given the explosive success of the previous two films in the series, the strong performance of "The Roundup: Punishment" is no surprise. But had you asked someone about the long-term viability of this franchise back when "The Outlaws" came out in 2017, the response would almost certainly have been pessimistic. In South Korean film history, "Voice Letter" and "Marrying the Mafia IV - Family Ordeal" are the only fourth installments, and their example is not an aspiring one.

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"Voice Letter" only earned around four hundred thousand admissions, reasonable for its 2005 era release, while "Marrying the Mafia IV - Family Ordeal" earned 2.4 million admissions, likewise fairly decent for its 2011 era release. While both franchises continued past these installments, both these films left only a faint echo of the original's footprint. Not that "Whispering Corridors" or "Marrying the Mafia" were exceptionally popular films- they mainly just appealed to genre fans.

South Korean film does have a few three film franchises that had a more significant cultural impact. But all suffered from diminishing returns. The gambling flick "Tazza: The High Rollers" had 5.69 million viewers, to "Tazza: The Hidden Card" with 4.01 million viewers, to "Tazza: One Eyed Jack" with 2.22 million viewers. "Detective K" had 4.78 million viewers, "Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island" had 3.87 million viewers, and "Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead" had 2.44 million viewers.

But the biggest example of all are the three movies about Admiral Yi Sun-shin. "The Admiral: Roaring Currents" is the all time South Korean box office leader with 17.61 million viewers. But its sequels "Hansan: Rising Dragon" and "Noryang: Deadly Sea" only had 7.26 million viewers and 4.57 million viewers respectively. In all these cases, even if sequels made money, they still suffered enough from diminishing returns that the intellectual properties were ultimately just abandoned.

"The Roundup: Punishment" by contrast seems likely to exceed all of its original prequels, despite "The Roundup: No Way Out" self being released less than a year ago. There's no indication of diminishing returns for this series whatsoever. Perhaps the answer for why that is lies in the simplicity of the premise- Ma Dong-seok, long a legendary actor in the action genre, at last plays the leading straight man, with all the other performers providing sass as necessary, finally vindicating his talents

Written by William Schwartz