[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.02.05 ~ 2016.02.07
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"A Violent Prosecutor" shows No Mercy at the top...
Lee Il-hyeong's "A Violent Prosecutor" dominated its first weekend out by capturing 73.7% of the box office pie and banking nearly $16 million. This comedy crime drama stars Hwang Jung-min as a wrongful accused investigator who gets help in prison from a fraudster (Gang Dong-won) in an attempt to clear his name. The film was allocated a massive 1,701 screens (close to double that of its closest rival) and from them attracted 2.3 million filmgoers to top the chart and dislodge last weekend's number one, "Kung Ju Panda 3".
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Last weekend the third installment in the "Kung Fu Panda" series hit Korean shores and rose to pole position (it captured 63% with 1.3 million), but week two for "Kung Fu Panda 3" was less productive; the film was shoved into second place with 550 thousand admissions (17.4%) while Lee's intriguing hit made its mark above. Since its release late January, "Kung Fu Panda 3" has already made $16.3 million in Korea alone, and, worldwide, the film has already banked over $198 million (it was particularly popular with Chinese audiences). The top two films, therefore, grab just over 90% of the cinema traffic over the weekend.
Three new entries followed: the American movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" featured in third with 70 thousand admissions (2%); Todd Haynes' romantic drama "Carol" (starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara) scored the attention 48.8 thousand (1.6%), and in fifth place fell to a local animation by Lee Yeong-joon, "The Strong and Mini Special Forces: Birth of a Hero", with 32 thousand (0.9%). This is Lee's second feature film in "The Strong and Mini Special Forces" series, the first of which was released last year and attracted just over 155 thousand filmgoers.
Lee Ho-jae-I's "SORI: Voice from the Heart" entered the race last weekend in second place with 179.7 thousand (7.8%), but slipped all the way to sixth here in week two with 28 thousand (0.8%) to bring its total tally to 377 thousand, or $2.3 million. Not far behind came last weekend's number three, "A Melody to Remember" by Lee Han, with 24.5 thousand (0.75%), bringing its bottom line now to $6.1 million.
The Oscar-nominated "The Revenant" starring Leonardo DiCaprio occupied eighth place with 22.8 thousand admissions going its way, followed by the Adama Mckay's biographical comedy "The Big Short" starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt. Lastly, Korea's first weekend of February was rounded out by the "Star Wars" killer, "The Himalayas", which has been in the top ten since mid-December. Lee Seok-hoon's "The Himalayas" stunningly outplayed the latest "Star Wars" film over the December, and with this past weekend's results, the film has made over $50.1 million (7.7 million admissions).
Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.02.05 - 2016.02.07 (www.kobis.or.kr)
| # | Films | Release date | Week-end | Total |
| 1 | "A Violent Prosecutor" (검사외전) | 2016/02/03 | 2 317 907 | 3 323 059 |
| 2 | "Kung Fu Panda 3" | 550 290 | 2 475 170 | |
| 3 | "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" | 70 390 | 81 811 | |
| 4 | "Carol" | 48 877 | 66 357 | |
| 5 | "The Strong and Mini Special Forces: Birth of a Hero" (최강전사 미니특공대 : 영웅의 탄생) | 2016/02/04 | 32 317 | 37 560 |
| 6 | "SORI: Voice from the Heart" (로봇, 소리) | 2016/01/27 | 28 433 | 377 757 |
| 7 | "A Melody to Remember" (오빠 생각) | 2016/01/21 | 24 590 | 983 320 |
| 8 | "The Revenant" | 22 817 | 1 946 586 | |
| 9 | "The Big Short" | 16 748 | 399 673 | |
| 10 | "The Himalayas" (히말라야) | 2015/12/16 | 5 372 | 7 740 044 |
| Korean movies only | ||||
| "Tayo the Little Bus Movie: Rescue My Friend Ace" (극장판 꼬마버스 타요의 에이스 구출작전) | 2016/01/21 | 5 173 | 120 523 | |
| "Inside Men: The Original" (내부자들: 디 오리지널) | 2015/12/31 | 4 840 | 2 070 048 | |
| "Bad Guys Always Die" (나쁜놈은 죽는다) | 2016/02/04 | 4 172 | 5 632 | |
| "Mood of the Day" (그날의 분위기) | 2016/01/14 | 584 | 651 551 | |
| "Bungaeman" (번개맨) | 2016/02/11 | 519 | 2 436 | |
| "Remember You - Movie" (나를 잊지 말아요) | 2016/01/07 | 125 | 427 111 | |
| "A Korean in Paris" (파리의 한국남자) | 2016/01/28 | 116 | 2 151 | |
| "Cruel State" (나쁜 나라) | 2015/12/03 | 71 | 20 646 | |
| "Pororo, Cyberspace Adventure" (뽀로로 극장판 컴퓨터 왕국 대모험) | 2015/12/10 | 70 | 443 819 | |
| "Like a French Film" (프랑스 영화처럼) | 2016/01/14 | 62 | 4 516 | |
- C.J. Wheeler (@Woolgatherist)