To no one’s surprise, Song Gang-ho’s THE SHOW MUST GO ON made its debut in the top spot this week. It’s $3.2 million is not bad, but it might be hard for SHOW to maintain, given the torrent of new titles about to be released (not to mention the bittorrent). I really wanted to see this film until I saw the trailer. Now I am less motivated. Might wait for the DVD.

Once again running neck-and-neck (er, neck-and-severed-neck) in Seoul is SMALL-TOWN RIVALS and 300. Nationwide, SMALL-TOWN RIVALS again did much better, and is on the verge of 1 million admissions.

The big French action film SKY FIGHTERS (aka LES CHEVALIERS DU CIEL) finally made it to theaters in Korea. I suppose 34,000 admissions are not great numbers, but I remember the French film commission pushing that film hard at last year’s Hong Kong Filmart, so it was kind of interesting to see it finally make it to the theaters.

This Week Title…………………………………. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance (Seoul only) Total Attendance
1. The Show Must Go On 3.14 449 147,800 472,300
2. Smalltown Rivals 3.29 315 63,000 944,000
3. 300 3.14 220 62,100 2,708,800
4. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer 3.22 229 41,400 880,300
5. Because I Said So 3.29 140 37,900 114,700
6. Black Book 3.29 118 12,000 150,000
7. Le Chevaliers du Ciel 3.29 95 10,100 34,000
8. The Number 23 3.22 113 8,600 423,000
9. Beautiful Sunday 3.29 190 6,500 168,000
10. Lyrics and Music 2.28 44 5,800 1,112,600

(Source: Film2.0)

Next week could be quite interesting, with the new Im Kwon-taek film, BEYOND THE YEARS, getting released, along with MEMORIES OF MATSUKO. Both films will most likely do mediocre business, but it is possible either could take off (or both, for that matter). A lot of women I know seem to be interested in MATSUKO, and you never know how the public will react to an Im Kwon-taek movie.