Not a very exciting box office this week. Although I was rather surprised to see the top spot go to AUGUST RUSH, an odd-looking melodrama out of Hollywood in which CJ Entertainment invested. I guess I was watching the wrong TV channels because I did not see a No. 1 opening coming at all. If I were a better blogger, I would check out Cine 21 or some other movie website to see what kind of feedback the film was getting from audiences… but I’m not, so I won’t.

In case you are curious, RUSH’s box office was about $1.7 million over the weekend, for a total of around $2.1 million.

Just to show how off-based my thinking was, if I were to have guessed from advertising and general stories, I might have predicted a big opening for MY ELEVENTH MOTHER. But it opened only in sixth. Even OUR TOWN opened better.

SEVEN DAYS is continuing to do fairly well, landing in No. 2 this weekend.

Rather amazingly, LUST CAUTION is still in third, after four weeks. Ang Lee’s sexy film just keeps on chugging here in Korea, having earned a little over $10 million. Not bad considering it has made just $4.3 million in the United States (since September). In case you are interested, LUST’s top territory so far has been China, where it has made $15 million, with $6 million in Hong Kong and $4 million in Taiwan.

This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance Total Attendance
1. August Rush 11.29 321 242,879 301,625
2. Seven Days (Korean) 11.14 307 220,615 1,284,500
3. Lust, Caution 11.08 258 136,383 1,359,072
4. Le Grand Chef (Sikkaek – Korean 11.01 321 122,490 2,662,777
5. Our Town (Uri Dongne – Korean) 11.29 276 117,008 147,873
6. My Eleventh Mother (Yeolhanbeonjjae Eomma – Korean) 11.29 260 89,516 129,503
7. Hitman 11.29 173 56,841 68,396
8. Beowulf 11.14 221 40,019 911,148
9. Michael Clayton 11.29 160 38,190 51,825
10. Saw 4 11.22 200 18,571 238,051

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Oh, last week I forgot to mention the John Cho film WEST 32ND, which opened Nov. 22. But not really my fault, since the film was on just 22 screens and never even approached the top 10. It opened in 17th, then dropped to 25th this week, for a grant total of about $54,000. Despite some decent talent being attached to the film (including Grace Park in a small role), the movie was remarkably dull… You are not missing a hidden gem.