John Woo’s epic RED CLIFF got off to a pretty good start last weekend, as it had the biggest opening weekend for any Chinese-language film ever in Korea. With over 800,000 admissions in its first four days, distributor Showbox thinks it might be able to make it to 3 million admissions before its run is over, which would make it the all-time biggest Chinese film in Korea.

Getting to 3 million is going to be tough, though, with THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD opening this Thursday. I have a feeling GBW is going to be on just about every screen on the peninsula… going to be a very tough weekend for the competition next weekend.

As for this weekend’s movies… PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS is still doing fairly well, and has not inched past the 4 million admissions mark. Looks like 5 million is pretty unlikely, but not a bad run.

This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Revenue (bil. won) Total Revenue (bil. won)
1. Red Cliff 7.10 568 4.31 5.10
2. Hancock 7.02 605 3.91 15.11
3. Wanted 6.26 415 2.14 17.04
4. Public Enemy Returns (Gangcheoljung – Korean) 6.19 397 2.00 25.99
5. Kung Fu Panda 6.05 386 1.17 29.12
6. Crossing (Korean) 6.26 316 0.77 4.96
7. The Strangers 7.02 187 0.31 1.40
8. Rec 7.10 128 0.26 0.32
9. Santamaria (Jalmotdoen Mannam – Korean) 7.10 189 0.19 0.22
10. Impy’s Island 6.26 64 0.046 0.16

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

Will Lee Jun-ik’s SUNNY be this year’s D-WAR to GBW’s MAY 18? I.e., can Lee’s film (which will be released July 24) piggyback off of GBW’s excitement without being overwhelmed by the competition, similar to how D-WAR and MAY 18 both did well last year?. Still a couple of weeks ago from finding out.

Last year, the studios pretty much left August open for Korean films to do well. This year, however, we have WALL-E and THE DARK KNIGHT coming quickly, so there could be a lot more competition.