The film debuted to stellar reviews at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in the Director 's Fortnight sidebar , where it was praised by critics as a well-made thriller with unrelenting suspense and flashes of humor . Upon its release in South Korea on May 29 , 2014 , at first it did n't attract much attention or hype , with a lackluster 80,000 ticket sales on its opening day . But through strong word of mouth from viewers , '' A Hard Day '' began an unexpectedly popular run at the box office , placing second place for four weeks behind Hollywood blockbusters '' X-Men : Days of Future Past '' and '' Edge of Tomorrow '' . It also outperformed other local noir thrillers with bigger stars , such as '' Man on High Heels '' and '' No Tears for the Dead '' . '' A Hard Day '' quickly reached its break-even point , garnering 1.6 million admissions 11 days after its release , and by its sixth week had drawn 3.08 million admissions . At the end of its run , '' A Hard Day '' had grossed from 3,450,305 tickets sold
2014 Cannes Film Festival
2014 Cannes Film Festival
A Hard Day