At long last, Hur Jin-ho lands on the top of the box office. Not just once, but two weeks in a row, with his latest melodrama HAPPINESS. Sure, 967,000 admissions in 10 days is not so impressive, but HAPPINESS has made Hur quite happy anyway because he has never led the box office in Korea before. Good for him. And good for Zip Cine, the company that produced the movie.

Otherwise, the most notable thing about this week’s box office to me is how egalitarian it is. The No. 10 movie, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, is in nearly 200 theaters! And it made around $350,000. I do not recall the No. 10 films doing 50 percent as well as the No. 3 movie before. Kind of unusual.

Also surprising is that a new Jodie Foster thriller and a new Clive Owen action film were both bested by a couple of fairly small films — BECOMING JANE and COPYING BEETHOVEN. I am not sure what that all means, but it is kind of nifty.

This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance Total Attendance
1. Happiness (Haengbok – Korean) 10.03 341 217,117 967,790
2. Rush Hour 3 10.03 270 167,384 621,617
3. Nanny Diaries 10.03 229 98,177 405,779
4. Love (Sarang – Korean) 9.20 263 97,350 1,966,448
5. Becoming Jane 10.11 238 88,135 104,719
6. Copying Beethoven 10.11 165 86,527 99,366
7. Brave One 10.11 169 81,014 95,473
8. Shoot ‘Em Up 10.11 172 55,947 66,932
9. The Happy Life (Jeulgeoun Insaeng – Korean) 9.12 149 52,994 1,177,938
10. Bourne Ultimatum 9.12 199 49,801 1,976,069

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 94% of nationwide box office)

Last Week’s Box Office (Oct. 5-7)
Title – Weekend Admissions – Total Nationwide Admissions

1. Happiness (Korean) – 322,400 – 583,565
2. Rush Hour 3 – 211,069 – 354,381
3. Love (Korean) – 143,991 – 1,770,649
4. The Nanny Diaries – 139,852 – 238,029
5. The Bourne Ultimatum – 98,780 – 1,878,427
6. The Happy Life (Korean) – 77,188 – 1,084,124
7. Kidnapping Granny K (Korean) – 58,219 – 1,458,958
8. Crank – 39,171 – 68,027
9. The Mafia, The Salesman (Korean) – 31,982 – 867,188
10. Invasion – 23,316 – 544,173