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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2017.01.13 ~ 2017.01.15

Japan's highest-grossing anime retains pole position...

Makoto Shinkai's romantic fantasy "Your Name" is now the highest-grossing Japanese anime in history having recently overtaken Hayao Miyazaki's classic, "Spirited Away" (2001). Shinkai's critical acclaimed masterpiece entered the Korean market January 4 and became the first Japanese anime to enter in pole position in over a decade. During its second weekend out, "Your Name" added another 739,079 admissions (30%) and moved its total tally in Korea now to 2.4 million ($17.2 million). Worldwide, "Your Name" has grossed $290 million, enough to overtake "Spirited Away"'s $289 million.

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Walt Disney Animation Studio's "Moana" arrived in Korea last Thursday to 953 screens around the country and captured 23.3% of the box office pie (583,228 admissions: $4 million) during its first weekend out. "Moana" was released in America mid-November and has already grossed $479.4 million worldwide (the film was produced for an estimated $150 million). The successful arrival of "Moana" push last weekend's number two, Cho Ui-seok's "Master" (starring Lee Byung-hun, Gang Dong-won and Kim Woo-bin) to third with its 283,757 admissions (12%). "Master" is Jo's fourth film to date after "Make It Big" (2002), "The World of Silence" (2006) and the 2013 thriller "Cold Eyes" (2013), and it's also his most successful film: since its release just before Christmas, "Master" has grossed $48.6 million from just over 7 million admissions.

Two new releases were up next: Robert Zemeckis' World War II romantic thriller "Allied" (starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard) and "Assassin's Creed" (based on the popular video game series of the same name) both arrived last Wednesday and claimed 246,491 (10.4%) and 201,833 (8.4%) admissions respectively, despite the fact that "Assassin's Creed" enjoyed a slightly superior screen count of 566 over "Allied"'s 546. The Golden Globe's most decorated film, Damien Chazelle's "La La Land" (starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone), which has been active in Korea's top ten since early December, added 107,202 admissions (4.6%) to move its total tally now to 2.9 million ($20.8 million), followed by Morten Tyldum's sci-fi thriller "Passengers".

"Passengers" stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and follows two people who suddenly wake up 90 years ahead of schedule from their induced hibernation aboard the starship Avalon. The film entered in third place last weekend with 13.3% of the sales (504,393 admissions), but week two for Tyldum's flick was less inspiring: the film's screens were cut from 608 to 393 and it only managed to attract 51,707 (2.1%), moving its total in Korea now to 654,728 ($4.6 million).

Not far behind "Passengers" was Garth Jennings' 3D computer animation musical "Sing", which features voice acting by some of Hollywood's favourites including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson. "Sing" has already grossed $386.4 million from the $75 million it took to produce, and with the 46,037 (1.8%) it claimed over the weekend, its Korean total now moves onto 1.7 million ($11.1 million). The third instalment of the Russian animation "Snow Queen", "The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice", fell four places to ninth with 40,230 (1.5%), and the final spot was claimed by Joo Ji-hong's romantic drama "Because I Love You" (Cha Tae-hyun and Kim You-jung). "Because I Love You", Joo's second film after "Maybe" (2009), entered in sixth last weekend with 146,196 (5.4%) and added another 26,901 here to move its new total admissions count to 329,581 ($2.2 million).

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2017.01.13 - 2017.01.15 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Your Name" (君の名は。)   739 534 2 489 384
2 "Moana"   583 346 673 226
3 "Master" (마스터) 2016/12/21 283 968 7 028 527
4 "Allied"   246 661 337 899
5 "Assassin's Creed"   201 971 305 238
6 "La La Land"   107 260 2 921 632
7 "Passengers"   51 763 654 784
8 "Sing"   46 042 1 710 061
9 "The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice"   40 232 345 603
10 "Because I Love You" (사랑하기 때문에) 2017/01/04 26 930 329 610
Korean movies only  
  "Pandora" (판도라) 2016/12/07 9 972 4 573 798
  "The King" (더 킹) 2017/01/18 5 762 7 233
  "Seven Years-Journalism without Journalist" (7년-그들이 없는 언론) 2017/01/12 5 309 9 414
  "Misbehavior" (여교사) 2017/01/04 4 522 110 959
  "Confidential Assignment" (공조) 2017/01/18 3 808 13 492
  "Moon Young" (문영) 2017/01/12 1 752 3 414
  "The Sino-Japanese War and Queen Min the Heroine" (청일전쟁과 여걸 민비, 1965) - Re-release   254 1 778
  "Moo-hyun, the Story of Two Cities" (무현, 두 도시 이야기) 2016/10/26 231 193 445
  "Weekends" (위켄즈) 2016/12/22 176 3 452
  "Obedience" (순종) 2016/11/17 161 57 157

- C.J. Wheeler

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