they needed to be handled in a certain way. It's just that the screenplay must be fully understood... We talk. Slowly infect them with my thoughts, mixing the individual with the movie's tone and manner." Calling Choi "a genius who also works extremely hard," actress Kim Hye-soo was in awe when she first read the script, saying, "It was a product of great effort, genius ideas and a detail-oriented, calculative mind. I think he knows who he is, the exact kind of films that he wants to make, and how to make them. The Thieves proves it." On comparisons with Ocean's Eleven, the director said he never went into production consciously thinking about the hit Hollywood film. Though similar to it, he thinks The Thieves is actually closer to his previous films The Big Swindle and Tazza: The High Rollers, with the action featured "invested with more emotion." Kim Yoon-seok added that contrary to the characters' compatible and harmonious collaboration in Ocean's Eleven, "In The Thieves, we are all over the place, all with our own faults. But I think that you will see through the friendships and love in the film, our unique emotional developments will show through." After six months of location shoots in Seoul, Busan, Macau, and Hong Kong, filming wrapped up on December 7, 2011. Box office With 436,622 tickets sold on the day of its release, The Thieves recorded the second highest single day opening of all time in Korea after The Host opened with 449,500 tickets sold in 2006. On its sixth day of release, it broke the 3 million mark in audience number, drawing 3.35 million viewers. In eight days, the numbers had risen to 4,365,078 tickets, by the eleventh day, it drew 6.2 million viewers, by the thirteenth day, 7 million, and over 8 million by the sixteenth day. After 22 days, it reached the "magic number" of 10 million viewers, only the sixth film to have done so in Korean film history. Kim Soo-hyun then fulfilled his public pledge to give a piggyback ride to the 10 millionth ticket holder, a middle school girl. After reaching over 11 million viewers on its fourth week, it rose to number 4 on the Korean all-time box office charts, beating Haeundae. It then passed 12 million to leapfrog over Taegukgi, and on its sixth week its 12.31 million overtook King and the Clown'''s record