South Korea 1987: When the Day Comes sits in the top 10% of South Korea films on this catalog — ranked #139 of 1,397 by TMDB audience score.
Synopsis
1987
“The truth must be told.”
In 1987 Korea, under an oppressive military regime, a college student gets killed during a police interrogation involving torture. Government of officials are quick to cover up the death and order the body to be cremated. A prosecutor who is supposed to sign the cremation release, raises questions about a 21-year-old kid dying of a heart attack, and he begins looking into the case for truth. Despite a systematic attempt to silence everyone involved in the case, the truth gets out, causing an eruption of public outrage.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #139 of 1,397 South Korea films indexed here (90th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.2 points above the South Korea average of 6.9/10.
Among South Korea Drama productions specifically: #97 of 868 (top 11%).
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with 1987: When the Day Comes. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From CJ Entertainment
Drama + History in South Korea
41 South Korea titles in our catalog blend the Drama and History genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding 1987: When the Day Comes itself).
The 2016–2018 South Korea Window
Among 268 South Korea films we catalog from this window, 1987: When the Day Comes places #35 — near the top of its class.
The 2010s South Korea Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2010s in South Korea, 719 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when 1987: When the Day Comes premiered alongside 88 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 9m runtime, production spent $95K per minute on screen and earned $383K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 88 other South Korea films in 2017.
The 914th South Korea title from South Korea we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our South Korea catalog contains 1,397 titles in total (931 films).
Audience Engagement
124 audience reviews — more than 86% of South Korea films in our index.
Review volume (86th percentile) outruns trending popularity (68th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on 1987: When the Day Comes, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- democracy · 4
- historical event · 4
- students' movement · 3
- student protest · 3
- military dictatorship · 2
- 1980s · 18
- protest · 10
- communism · 8
- democratization movement · 8
- south korea · 97
- south korea · 97
- seoul · 38
Production Details
| Primary Country | South Korea |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Korean |
| Production Companies | CJ Entertainment, Woojeong Film |
| Runtime | 2h 9m |
| Release Date | December 27, 2017 |
| IMDb | tt6493286 |