Stream Classics to Latest K-Movies & Shows at OnDemandKorea

[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2015.09.25 ~ 2015.09.27

Lee Joon-ik's "The Throne" still reigns supreme…

For the second week in a row, Lee Joon-ik's timely period piece "The Throne" has claimed the top spot by adding another 1.2 million admissions to its total tally. Lee's depiction of the cruel fate of Prince Sado entered the charts on the 16th, and, with the Chuseok weekend included, now stands at 3.5 million admissions ($23.9 million). "The Throne" had to compete with a string of new releases leading up to Korea's harvest holiday but ultimately managed to capture 36.9% of the box office pie to remain in pole position.

Of the six new entries that made their way to Korean screens this past week, Kim Jeong-hoon-II's "Accidental Detective" proved the most competitive. This comedy crime thriller (which is also know as "Private Detective") was given 641 screens from which to pool from, and from them it was able to attract 553 thousand filmgoers (16.6%) during its first weekend out. "Accidental Detective" follows a mystery novel contest winner (kwon Sang-woo) who accidentally finds himself involved in a real-life murder case and has to work with a real detective (played by Sung Dong-il) to crack it.

Close behind with 526 thousand admissions (15.3%) came last weekend's number two film, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" by Wes Ball (which is based on the second book James Dashner's "Maze Runner" series of novels). The highest new foreign entry came next. Nancy Meyer's "The Intern" stars A-list Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and actress Anne Hathaway and attracted the interest of 337 thousand during its first weekend out in Korea (10%). Cheon Seong-il's war comedy "The Long Way Home" was next in fifth with 242 thousand (7%); another new local release and sees Sol Kyung-gu and Yeo Jin-goo play two soldiers that cross paths on the Western Front during the Korean War.

One the most successful Korean films of the year came next. Since its release during the first week of August, Ryoo Seung-wan's "Veteran" has surprised most by accumulating 13 million admissions, 147 thousand of which came from this past weekend. That impressive figure places "Veteran" in some very unique company in Korean cinema history as it continues to move past the 10 million admissions mark (which has become somewhat of a milestone for Korean blockbusters in recent years). Currently, the film has made over $85.4 million on home soil.

In seventh place entered the British-American adventure thriller "Everest" by Baltasar Kormákur. Made for an estimated $96.8 million, "Everest" has not yet made it into the black worldwide, and its opening weekend in Korea yielded just 125 thousand admissions, or $1.2 million. "Mune", a French animation by Alexandre Heboyan and Benoît Philippon, also entered the fray this past week, and its first weekend saw it bank just $387 thousand from 335 screenings around the country. Marvel's "Ant-Man" added 37.9 thousand (1%), and the list of the weekend's top performers was rounded out by Ernesto Padrón's "Tom Little and The Magic Mirror" with 22 thousand admissions sold.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2015.09.25 - 2015.09.27 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "The Throne" (사도) 2015/09/16 1 226 690 3 590 647
2 "Accidental Detective" (탐정 : 더 비기닝) 2015/09/24 553 430 629 095
3 "Maze Runners: The Scorch Trials"   516 059 1 896 781
4 "The Intern"   337 434 391 751
5 "The Long Way Home" (서부전선) 2015/09/24 242 149 294 482
6 "Veteran" (베테랑) 2015/08/05 147 912 13 016 288
7 "Everest"   125 922 154 204
8 "Mune" (Mune, le Gardien de la Lune)
  55 056 61 789
9 "Ant-Man"   37 900 2 789 456
10 "Tom Little and The Magic Mirror" (Meñique y el espejo mágico)   22 346 26 236
Korean movies only  
  "Right Now, Wrong Then" (지금은맞고그때는틀리다) 2015/09/24 12 490 18 473
  "The Assassination" (암살) 2015/07/22 5 297 12 692 021
  "Beauty Inside" (뷰티 인사이드) 2015/08/20 1 308 2 049 518
  "The Martyrdom" (순교) 2015/08/13 311 9 884
  "Super Racer Angie" (슈퍼레이서 엔지) 2015/09/10 195 9 583
  "The Advocate : A missing body" (성난 변호사) 2015/10/08 193 1 535
  "Deep Trap" (함정) 2015/09/10 175 257 962
  "The Piano" (기적의 피아노) 2015/09/03 146 8 505
  "Shadow Island" (영도) 2015/09/10 115 2 788
  "Love Never Fails" (사랑이 이긴다) 2015/09/10 108 13 362

- C.J. Wheeler (@WoolgatheristKoreaOnTheCouch)

Advertisement

❎ Try Ad-free