A scene from "The Roundup: Punishment" / Courtesy of ABO Entertainment

"The Roundup: Punishment," the fourth and latest installment of the popular crime action franchise, hit Korean theaters Wednesday, whipping up a frenzy at the box office with all-time record opening day sales for a Korean movie.

According to the Korea Box-office Information System, the film presold over 834,000 tickets on its opening day, accounting for 95.5 percent of the box office's ticket reservations as of Wednesday morning.

The number not only exceeds those of the series' previous three installments and this year's previous record of nearly 430,000 set by "Kung Fu Panda 4," but also that of the 2018 blockbuster film "Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days," which previously held the record for ticket reservations for a Korean movie with 646,000 tickets reserved on its opening day.

The much-anticipated sequel had the highest ticket reservation rate at the box office for two weeks before its release.

The film, premiering with a record-breaking number of presold tickets, is giving the franchise high hopes, especially with there being no blockbuster competitor until "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" premieres on May 8.

The franchise, about hard-hitting detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok) fighting crimes, kicked off with "The Outlaws" in 2017 and became a smash hit with its sequels, including "The Roundup" (2022) and "The Roundup: No Way Out" (2023), which both surpassed 10 million ticket sales.

Led by the previous series' stunt coordinator, Heo Myeong-haeng, the fourth installment follows Ma and his team joining hands with a cybercrime squad to investigate a gambling cartel in the Philippines, led by ex-special forces agent Baek Chang-gi (Kim Moo-yul) and its mastermind, Chang Dong-cheol (Lee Dong-hwi).

The film was invited to this year's Berlin International Film Festival, a first for the series, in February.