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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2018.01.19 - 2018.01.21

The final "Maze Runner" and local drama "Keys to the Heart" dislodge last weekend's hits...

"1987: When the Day Comes" and "Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds" (now the third highest grossing Korean film of all time) have been grabbing the tiger's share of the sales so far this year. That changed over the weekend with the arrival of "Maze Runner: The Death Cure", the third and final instalment in the popular American dystopian sci-fi series based on the novels by James Dashner. Director Wes Ball's action-packed adaptation so became the first foreign film to top the Korean box office this year, but not by much.

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From 1,090 screens, "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" claimed 863,445 admissions (28.86%), or $6.9 million. (South Korea was actually the first country to screen the film; it opens in America later this week.) Not far behind entered Choi Seong-hyeon's debut film, the comedy-drama "Keys to the Heart" starring Lee Byung-hun, Youn Yuh-jung and Park Jung-min. "Keys to the Heart" arrived, like the final "Death Cure", last Wednesday. From 856 screens, Choi's debut captured 21.02% of the box office pie to take second place.

Pixar's latest animated adventure, "Coco", by director Lee Unkrich, remained unmoved in third. This is the second weekend for "Coco", and with the 564,352 admissions (17.61%) the film claimed here, its total tally now stands at 1.8 million ($13.4 million). Worldwide, and from a production budget of between $170 ~ $200 million, "Coco" has now grossed $627.6 million.

Last weekend's number one, Jang Joon-hwan's "1987: When the Day Comes" (Kim Yun-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Tae-ri), was unable to retain pole position after it had just overtaken Kim Yong-hwa's blockbuster "Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds" the week before. The film's screen count was slashed from 1,122 to 745, from them 462,740 admissions (15.24%) were accumulated from Friday to Sunday. Since its release two days after Christmas, Jang's fourth film has now grossed $50.2 million (6.6 million admissions), making it the second highest-grossing film of the year. The highest grossing film was up next.

"Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds" is the first of two films adapted from Joo Ho-min's webcomic "Singwa Hamgge". It's been a huge success: since its release just before Christmas, and with the 360,825 admissions scored here (11.71%), "Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds" has raced to become the third highest-grossing Korea film in history. Topping that list is "The Admiral: Roaring Currents" ($127 million/17.6 million admissions) and then "Ode to My Father" ($103 million/14.2 million admissions). The rest of the this week's top performers claimed less than 100,000 admissions.

Jake Kasdan's action adventure comedy "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (the second "Jumanji" film since the 1995 original) fell two places to sixth with 54,619 admissions (1.73%), followed by Michael Gracey's period musical "The Greatest Showman" (Hugh Jackman) with 28,277 (0.95%); the films' total admission counts now stand at 1.6 million ($12.7 million) and 1.2 million ($9.8 million) respectively. "Wonder", an American drama by director Stephen Chbosky, was able to move up a notch during its fourth weekend out. From just 58 screens (down from 94), "Wonder" added 13,668 admissions (0.38%), which moves its bottom line in Korea to $1.5 million from 204,766 admissions.

The final two films in the top ten were new releases. "The Little Vampire 3D" earned $89,839 (12,754 admissions) from 211 screens, and the final place went to K-Pop group Sechskies' documentary about their past 18 years in the business. "SECHSKIES Eighteen" was shown at just 25 cinemas around the country, but it still managed to find 11,987 admissions (0.35%). To date, "SECHSKIES Eighteen" has grossed $151,697 (21,044 admissions).

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2018.01.19 - 2018.01.21 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Maze Runner: The Death Cure"   868 422 1 265 318
2 "Keys to the Heart" (그것만이 내 세상) 2018/01/17 646 856 910 343
3 "Coco"   565 134 1 802 489
4 "1987: When the Day Comes" (1987) 2017/12/27 464 504 6 667 876
5 "Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds" (신과 함께) 2017/12/20 362 221 13 542 023
6 "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle"   54 832 1 684 662
7 "The Greatest Showman"   28 440 1 281 163
8 "Wonder"   13 676 204 774
9 "The Little Vampire 3D" (Der kleine Vampir)   12 754 16 369
10 "SECHSKIES Eighteen" (젝스키스 에이틴) 2018/01/18 11 993 21 050
Korean movies only  
  "Steel Rain" (강철비) 2017/12/14 3 108 4 449 843
  "Brothers in Heaven" (돌아와요 부산항愛) 2018/01/17 1 834 5 824
  "Myeoneuri - My Son's Crazy Wife" (B급 며느리) 2018/01/17 1 307 3 807
  "For Vagina's Sake" (피의 연대기) 2018/01/18 1 162 2 043
  "Pororo, Dinosaur Island Adventure" (뽀로로 극장판 공룡섬 대모험) 2017/12/07 1 103 823 070
  "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (비밥바룰라) 2018/01/24 737 737
  "The Outlaws" (범죄도시) 2017/10/03 510 6 880 354
  "The Remnants" (공동정범) 2018/01/25 420 1 598
  "I Can Speak" (아이 캔 스피크) 2017/09/21 398 3 279 694
  "Sermon on the Mount" (산상수훈) 2017/12/07 321 42 141

- Christopher Wheeler

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