Yet another week where the top film in Seoul and the top film in the rest of the country differed. BLACK HOUSE was the top film nationwide, according to the official KOBIS report.

And yet again, OCEAN’S 13 was the top film, even though there were four movies (BLACK HOUSE, SHREK 3, PIRATES 3 and HWANG JIN-YI) with more screens than the George Clooney casino movie. Amusingly, three of those films (all except PIRATES 3) were distributed by CJ Entertainment, a credit to the company’s clout. HWANG JIN-YI, despite finishing in seventh this week, is still playing on 286 screens.

Sad to see HOT FUZZ open so poorly. But audiences here clearly missed out on most of the jokes in the first two-thirds of the movie — especially the puns (which is to be expected, I guess) and the homoeroticism (no comment).

Title – Weekend Seoul Admissions – Total Nationwide Admissions
1. Ocean’s 13 – 120,300 – 1,014,700
2. Black House – 119,000 – 494,000
3. Shrek 3 – 80,000 – 2,563,000
4. Captivity – 31,600 – 134,300
5. Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End – 27,500 – 4,867,000
6. Love & Other Disasters – 23,800 – 216,400
7. Hwang Jinyi – 18,700 – 1,196,500
8. Hot Fuzz – 16,000 – 60,000
9. Never Forever – 15,100 – 47,000
10. Secret Sunshine – 10,700 – 1,634,300
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Fun Korean Lesson: babari maen (aka “Burberry Man”) – A flasher.