[HanCinema's Film Review] Korean Weekend Box Office 2012.11.16 ~ 2012.11.18
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HanCinema's Korean Box Office Review
(2012.11.16 ~ 2012.11.18)
Despite its fanatical global following the much anticipated "Breaking Dawn: Part II" was not able to outdo Jo Sung-hee's "A Werewolf Boy" as the top seed this past weekend. An extremely tight race saw Sung-hee earn its third weekend at the top with 901,841 admissions (34.4%), helped along with 678 screenings around the country. Bill Condon's vampire and werewolf sensation was tantalizingly close to jumping straight to the top, but was forced to settle for second as it entered the chart with 880,696 (34.6%) admissions. In addition to this clash of mythological love tales, this week saw the start of another Korean film in the form of Bae Hyeong-joon's "Jackal is Coming", as well as an interesting new horror called "Sinister" by the American director Scott Derrickson.
"Breaking Dawn: Part II" opened on a fair playing field with the Sung-hee's hit as those 665 screens translated into a first weekend haul of a competitive 880,696 admissions. The latest in this ineluctable vampire/werewolf series cost an approximate $131,000,000 and Korean movie-goers seem to support its drive towards profitability and continued international success. Jung Byung-gil's "Confession of Murder" was therefore forced down to one place to third, adding 416,081 (17.2%) to its new admissions count of 1,538,303. The new Korean film out last week was Hyeong-joon's "Jackal is Coming" starring Song Ji-hyo, Kim Jae-joong, and Oh Dal-soo. It's a comedy that follows a sexy serial killer (with the code name: "Jackal") and her kidnapping of one of the greatest Korean pop stars (Jae-joong as Choi-hyeon). "A Jackal is Coming" came out on the 15th and has thus far accumulated 141,284 admissions over 301 screens around the country.
"Masquerade" stubbornly slipped just the one place as it casually added a cool 98,383 admissions to bump its incredible ticket sales to 11,933,678. Choo Chang-min's film is now only million admission behind the record-breaking "The Thieves", but its steam has surely runout as this week marks its tenth week in the top ten! 007 has been having a very dull time in Korea. The weekend crowds pushed the MI6 agents new adventure down three places with just 69,179 admission. "SkyFall" did, however, have its screenings cut from 350 down to 239 this past weekend, leaving the British spy to settle on a total admissions count of 2,285,110 since its release late last month. At number seven is "Sinister", a eerie looking horror by Scott Derrickson ("Hellrasier: Inferno" - 2000 & "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" - 2005) that looks at the possibility of a serial 'snuff' killer form the 1960s. It stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransone and has thus far grossed around $46,578,686 in the US alone.
Finally a look at the bottom half of the chart as "Upside down" falls three places to rest at number eight. "Upside Down" earned some 94,032 admissions last weekend, but was only able to add an additional 11,328 to its efforts here. That disappointment was followed by the animation "Jungle Emperor Leo", a Japanese animation that follows the last half of Osamu Tezuka's epic manga "Jungle Taitei". "Jungle Emperor Leo" has amassed 38,984 admissions since its release on the 8th. Lastly, the top ten closes its doors with "Brave", a film that has floated around in the charts for over seven weeks now. However its position at ten this past weekend might spell the film's last appearance in the charts as it bows out with a rather quiet 1,228,682 admissions.
Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2012.11.16 - 2012.11.18 (www.kobis.or.kr)
| # | Films | Release date | Week-end | Total |
| 1 | "A Werewolf Boy" (늑대소년) | 2012/10/31 | 901 842 | 5 093 692 |
| 2 | "Breaking Dawn Part 2" | 880 700 | 1 080 756 | |
| 3 | "Confession of Murder" (내가 살인범이다) | 2012/11/08 | 416 119 | 1 538 341 |
| 4 | "Jackal is Coming" (자칼이 온다) | 2012/11/15 | 109 017 | 141 284 |
| 5 | "Masquerade" (광해, 왕이 된 남자) | 2012/09/13 | 98 383 | 11 933 678 |
| 6 | "Skyfall" | 69 181 | 2 285 115 | |
| 7 | "Sinister" | 26 386 | 33 809 | |
| 8 | "Upside Down" | 11 328 | 169 384 | |
| 9 | "Jungle Emperor Leo (ジャングル大帝 劇場版, 1997)" | 9 984 | 38 984 | |
| 10 | "Brave" | 5 424 | 1 228 682 | |
| Korean movies only | ||||
| "Speckles: The Tarbosaurus" (점박이: 한반도의 공룡 3D) | 2012/01/26 | 2 367 | 1 044 624 | |
| "The Winter of the Year was Warm" (내가 고백을 하면) | 2012/11/15 | 2 143 | 3 915 | |
| "Suspect X" (용의자X) | 2012/10/18 | 2 114 | 1 549 946 | |
| "Tone-Deaf Clinic" (음치 클리닉) | 2012/11/29 | 1 238 | 4 103 | |
| "National Security" (남영동1985) | 2012/11/22 | 909 | 6 774 | |
| "White Night - 2012" (백야) | 2012/11/15 | 792 | 1 783 | |
| "Remembrance of MB" (MB의 추억) | 2012/10/18 | 673 | 13 502 | |
| "All Bark No Bite" (개들의 전쟁) | 2012/11/22 | 518 | 876 | |
| "Touch - 2012" (터치) | 2012/11/08 | 482 | 9 328 | |
| "Modern Family" (가족 시네마) | 2012/11/08 | 379 | 1 922 | |
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