Stream K-Dramas at OnDemandKorea

[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.08.26 ~ 2016.08.28

The "Tunnel" enjoys its third weekend at the top of the pile...

Kim Seong-hun's action thriller "Tunnel" enjoyed a third straight weekend at the top of Korean box office this past weekend by attracting 665,351 admissions (20.8%). "Tunnel", Kim's third film after "A Hard Day" (2013) and "How the Lack of Love Affects Two Men" (2006), is based on So Jae-won's novel of the same name and stars Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doona and Oh Dal-soo. The film has sold 6.2 million admissions and is currently the sixth highest-grossing film released in Korea this year.

Advertisement

David F. Sandberg's supernatural horror "Lights Out" had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. From the 659 screens allocated to it around Korea, "Lights Out" scored 397,459 admissions (11.9%) during its first weekend out in Korea which was enough to dislodged Heo Jin-ho's historical melodrama, "The Last Princess", down to third.

Based on Kwon Bi-young's 2009 novel, "The Last Princess" tells the tale of Princess Deokhye (Son Ye-jin), the daughter of the infamous Joseon dynasty figure Gojong, the Emperor of Gwangmu. The film, Heo's eighth, added another 230,525 admissions (11.6%) across 551 screens which moved its total tally now to 5.3 million. Not far behind that Joseon drama entered the new "Ghostbusters" film by Paul Feig. Made for an estimated $144 million, "Ghostbusters" has already banked $217.5 million worldwide, and in Korea, the film's first weekend out caught the attention of 215,511 moviegoers.

"Star Trek Beyond", the thirteenth film in the franchise, fell three places from last week to find itself in fourth with 167,949 admissions (8%), followed Illumination Entertainment's animated 3D adventure film, "The Secret Life of Pets". This animated buddy flick has been floating around Korea's middle order since its release on 3 August, and while the film hasn't been able to take on some of the summer's hottest hits, "The Secret Life of Pets" has been able to move its total admissions in Korea to 2.4 million.

The country's highest-grossing film of the year was next. Yeon Sang-ho's first live action film, "Train to Busan" (starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok and the young Kim Su-an), added 102,903 admissions (4.6%) which brought its total admissions count now to an impressive 11.4 million. Not far behind Yeon's atypical zombie thriller came the controversial war film "Operation Chromite" by director John H. Lee. Lee's fifth feature scored 87,415 admissions; currently, its box office tally stands at 6.9 million. "Operation Chromite" is currently the fifth-highest grossing film of the year behind "The Wailing", "Captain America: Civil War", "A Violent Prosecutor" and "Train to Busan".

The final two places in the weekend's Top Ten fell to two new films: the British-French biographical comedy-drama "Florence Foster Jenkins" and Chae Doo-byeong's "DETOUR" (starring Shin Ha-kyun, Park Hee-soon and Oh Man-seok). "Florence Foster Jenkins" opened its Korean account with 54,887 admissions (4.9%), while Cha's debut drama claimed the attention of 35,290 filmgoers across 337 screens.

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.08.26 - 2016.08.28 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Tunnel" (터널) 2016/08/10 665 351 6 280 576
2 "Lights Out"   397 458 534 423
3 "The Last Princess" (덕혜옹주) 2016/08/03 230 525 5 306 511
4 "Ghostbusters"   215 511 248 876
5 "Star Trek Beyond"   167 949 1 013 615
6 "The Secret Life of Pets"   107 985 2 437 382
7 "Train to Busan" (부산행) 2016/07/20 102 903 11 423 237
8 "Operation Chromite" (인천상륙작전) 2016/07/27 87 415 6 953 995
9 "Florence Foster Jenkins"   54 887 89 967
10 "DETOUR" (올레) 2016/08/25 35 290 50 361
Korean movies only  
  "Worst Woman" (최악의 하루) 2016/08/25 20 991 29 949
  "The Queen of Crime" (범죄의 여왕) 2016/08/25 20 329 28 892
  "Run-off" (국가대표2) 2016/08/10 17 504 694 507
  "Power Battle Watchcar: Blazing Race" (파워배틀 와치카 미니카 배틀리그: 불꽃의 질주) 2016/08/17 7 575 32 343
  "The Age of Shadows" (밀정) 2016/09/07 7 472 9 149
  "Seoul Station" (서울역) 2016/08/17 5 591 144 563
  "Bling" (슈퍼 프렌즈) 2016/08/10 2 017 88 538
  "Kai - Animation" (카이 : 거울 호수의 전설) 2016/08/17 1 251 23 680
  "Single Determination" (일사각오) 2016/08/18 534 94 270
  "The Island of Shadows" (그림자들의 섬) 2016/08/25 365 1 277

 - Chris Wheeler

❎ Try Ad-free