Due to 'Veteran 2' hit, the number of Korean moviegoers in September reached its highest annual high.

Still cut from the movie "Veteran 2" ⓒ CJ ENM.

Director Ryu Seung-wan's film "Veteran 2" was a success during the Chuseok holiday, and the total number of Korean movies and sales reached a record high of the year last month.

According to the September movie industry settlement data released by the Korean Film Council on the 17th, the total number of Korean movies was 8.12 million and sales reached 81 billion won, the highest in the year. Compared to the same month last year, the number of audiences increased by 73.9% and sales increased by 77.7%.

The Korea Film Council pointed to the success of "Veteran 2" as a result of this.

Veteran 2, released on the 13th of last month, a day before the Chuseok holiday, reached the top of the box office in September with 6.49 million viewers and 62.5 billion won in sales for a little over two weeks. It also recorded the highest performance among all Chuseok releases.

The Korea Film Council analyzed that the success of "Veteran 2" was a predictable result given that there was no significant competition. In particular, he explained that "Veteran 2" was the only masterpiece this year, unlike the fierce competition of "Dr. Chun's Abandon Research Institute: Secrets of Snowscape," "1947 Boston," and "Spider House" during the Chuseok holiday last year.

Meanwhile, foreign films have been sluggish since June, when "Inside Out 2" was released. Foreign movie sales in September were 19.1 billion won and the number of viewers was 1.98 million, down more than 56 percent from the previous month. The ratio of foreign movie sales to total sales was also 19.1%, falling below the 20% mark for the first time this year.