Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho's latest sci-fi film, "Mickey 17," topped the domestic box office, attracting nearly 250-thousand moviegoers on the day of its release.

According to the nation's combined ticket sales network on Saturday, some 248-thousand people watched "Mickey 17" in theaters upon its release on Friday.

The first-day record surpasses those of other box office hits during the first half of this year, including some 160-thousand by "Dark Nuns," an occult film starring Song Hye-kyo, and 106-thousand by action comedy "Hitman 2," starring Kwon Sang-woo.
 
"Mickey 17," starring English actor Robert Pattinson, also made headlines for a record-high production cost of 118 million U.S. dollars for a film by a South Korean director.

The film, distributed by Warner Bros., is about Mickey Barnes, played by Pattinson, who signs up to be an "expendable," a disposable clone worker, on a distant human colony.