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[Hancinema's Box Office Review] 2013.03.15 ~ 2013.03.17

For the first time this year a foreign film has managed to claim the top spot in Korea's weekend box office. With 423,336 admissions, Jonathan Levine's "Warm Bodies" is the first outside entry to make it all the way to the top. However it does so with the lowest ticket count for first place this year. "Warm Bodies" is an adaptation from Isaac Marion's book of the same name; it's a paranormal romance that takes a zombie's perspective as he pursues his living love interest. "Warm Bodies" claimed 26.0% of the total ticket sales with the help of 475 screenings around the country. There were a string of new releases last week that caused a serious reshuffle in this weekend's top ten, including Yoon Jong-chan's "Paparoti", the Oscar winner "Lincoln", as well as the Italian animation "Gladiators of Rome" in 3D.

"Paparoti" is Yoon Jong-chan's fourth film with his previous effort being "I Am Happy" which was released back in 2008. "Paparoti" tells the tale of a highly talented student as he follows his dream to become the next "Pavaroti". This one stars Han Suk-kyu and Lee Je-hoon, along with Oh Dal-soo, Kang So-ra, and Cho Jin-woong. "Paparoti" opened with the most screens (545), but was still unable to claim first with its 443,256 (21.7%) tally. In third we find last week's number one "The New World" with 322,618 (20.6%). This is the fourth week for Park Hoon-jung's "The New World" which has attracted close to 4 million viewers during its run so far. Lee Hwan-hyeong's "Miracle in Cell No.7" is finally showing signs of slowing down its record-breaking efforts. "Miracle in Cell No.7" added 180,960 (10.8%) admissions to push to third in the list of Korea's highest grossing films of all time. It now sits just behind "The Thieves" and "The Host".

The mystery thriller "Psycho-metry" fell three places in light of other successful new releases. Kwon Ho-young's third film horded just 78,010 (5%) this time around, less than a third of its opening weekend effort of 242,319 (14.8%). The wizard is back and cast in a contemporary new light in Sam Raimi's "Oz the Great and Powerful" which skipped its way to 59,093 (4.1%). Next was "Lincoln", a film that received the most Oscar nominations this year, which saw some 57,986 (3.5%) votes go its way. Steven Spielberg was the master behind this one, as Daniel Day-Lewis takes on the role of America's iconic 16th president.

Moving to the lower end of the table now and we find a new animation from Italia in the form of "Gladiators of Rome 3D". The Italian film claimed 33,651 (1.9%) in its first weekend out in Korea, followed by "Jack The Giant Slayer" which had 26,335 (1.5%) of its own to record. Lastly at number ten is "The Berlin File" with 16,417 (1.1%). This is the seventh week in the top ten for Ryoo Seung-wan's action flick, during which time it has amassed 7,146,701 million admissions.

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2013.03.15 - 2013.03.17 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Warm Bodies"   423 336 503 764
2 "Paparoti" (파파로티) 2013/03/14 360 326 443 249
3 "The New World" (신세계) 2013/02/21 322 618 3 960 315
4 "Miracle in Cell No.7" (7번방의 선물) 2013/01/23 180 960 12 485 458
5 "Psycho-metry" (사이코메트리) 2013/03/07 78 010 489 037
6 "Oz: The Great and Powerful"   59 093 326 805
7 "Lincoln"   57 986 72 035
8 "Gladiators of Rome 3D"   33 651 35 662
9 "Jack the Giant Slayer"   26 335 944 908
10 "The Berlin File" (베를린) 2013/01/30 16 417 7 146 701
Korean movies only  
  "Nobody's Daughter Haewon" (누구의 딸도 아닌 해원) 2013/02/28 3 504 28 861
  "Jiseul" (지슬) 2013/03/21 3 155 14 251
  "Pororo, The Racing Adventure" (뽀로로의 슈퍼 썰매 대모험) 2013/01/24 1 542 926 953
  "Degree of Love" (연애의 온도) 2013/03/21 1 450 8 409
  "Beautiful, Miss Jin" (미스진은 예쁘다) 2013/03/14 391 1 453
  "When Winter Screams" (설인) 2013/03/14 346 581
  "Jury" (주리) 2013/03/07 189 968
  "Your Time is Up" (누구나 제 명에 죽고 싶다) 2013/03/14 176 334
  "Eating, Talking, Faucking" (생생활활) 2013/03/21 126 126
  "Behind the Camera" (뒷담화:감독이 미쳤어요) 2013/02/28 113 5 178

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