“Detective Conan: The 30th Case” has passed 100,000 admissions in just four days in South Korea, riding a sold-out preview run and the franchise’s first localized Korean dub in eight years.
The 93-minute special opened exclusively at CGV on November 5, topping the daily box office on its first day with 25,379 admissions and a 22.2 percent revenue share, according to the Korean Film Council’s integrated box office network. It finished its opening weekend ranked fourth overall while recording the highest seat sales rate among films that opened in the first weekend of November.
The numbers kept climbing through the weekend. Daily figures from the Korean Film Council show cumulative admissions reaching 46,368 on November 6, 80,778 on November 7 and 108,164 on November 8, when the film played on 409 screens with an 11.65 percent revenue share.
The opening is the strongest ever for a Conan compilation or television special released theatrically in Korea. The previous record belonged to 2024’s “Detective Conan vs. Kid,” which drew 87,601 admissions over five days — a mark the new film has already cleared in four.
The special marks the 30th anniversary of the television anime, gathering an all-star lineup in a single case. Conan joins detectives from police forces across the country, along with the FBI, to stop a national crisis set off by a counterfeit banknote scandal known as “Case No. 30.” The film is directed by Kamanaka Nobuharu with a screenplay by Sakurai Takeharu, the team behind “Zero the Enforcer.”
Part of the draw is the dub. The film is the first Conan release in eight years to get a Korean-localized dub, since 2018’s “Zero the Enforcer,” with Kim Sun-hye voicing Conan alongside Kang Soo-jin, Lee Jung-goo, Choi Jae-ho, Lee Joo-chang and Park Sung-tae. The localization goes beyond voices: the counterfeit 10,000-yen note at the center of the Japanese version becomes a fictional 100,000-won note in the Korean dub, Osaka becomes Busan, and Japan’s prefectural police become familiar Korean regions including Seoul, Busan, Incheon, North Chungcheong and North Gyeongsang. Both the subtitled and dubbed versions are playing in theaters, letting audiences compare the two.
The groundwork was laid before opening day. Preview screenings at CGV on October 31 and November 1 sold out as soon as reservations opened, with seat sales reaching 98.3 percent on October 31 and 96 percent on November 1 — a weekend average of 97 percent, the highest among paid previews for films opening around the same time, according to TV Report.
Viewers have responded to the anniversary lineup in particular, with fans praising the chance to see three decades of characters sharing one story and the mystery-first approach — deduction over action — that defined the series. The response suggests the draw is nostalgia as much as novelty: a familiar cast, familiar voices, and a case built around the kind of intricate puzzle the franchise is known for.
The opening weekend also stood out in a crowded early-November frame. The special went up against a slate of domestic and international releases, yet its preview sellouts and opening-day win gave it momentum that carried through the weekend, with seat sales leading every other film that opened in the same window.
With the 100,000 mark passed in four days, attention now turns to whether the special can set a new high for Conan compilation releases in Korea. “Detective Conan: The 30th Case” is now playing at CGV cinemas nationwide.
