A poster for the Korean film "The Roundup: Punishment" displayed on an electronic signboard at a Seoul theater, in this undated file photo. Yonhap

The Korean crime-action film "The Roundup: Punishment" surpassed 2 million admissions on Saturday, three days after its release, according to its distributor.

It became the fastest film of 2024 to date to reach that milestone, according to ABO Entertainment.

The fourth installment of "The Roundup" crime-action film franchise starring Ma Dong-seok opened big Wednesday, drawing 820,000 moviegoers nationwide, and topped 1 million the following day.

As of 9 a.m. Saturday, it accounted for 870,000, or 92.7 percent, of all ticket reservations at the local box office, with the animated U.S. film "Kung Fu Panda 4" in a distant second with 2.7 percent.

"Punishment," if the current trend continues, is expected to exceed 3 million admissions over the weekend.

The movie revolves around tenacious cop Ma Seok-do (played by Ma Dong-seok) as he tracks down a ruthless global drug kingpin, Baek Chang-ki (Kim Moo-yeol), and a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, Chang Dong-cheol (Lee Dong-hwi), who employs illegal online casinos for money laundering.

In addition to taking on the lead role, Ma, also known as Don Lee, served as a planner, screenwriter and producer of the film project.

It was directed by Heo Myeong-haeng, who previously worked as a martial arts choreographer on the first three installments. (Yonhap)