Plenty of new films this week, but none of them did very good business, as the top four films were unchanged from last weekend.
TAKE OFF continues its strong run, pulling in another 5.79 billion won ($4.6 million), for a total of 38.06 billion won ($30.4 million). That is over 800,000 additional admissions, taking it well past the 5-million-attendance mark (5.35 million, actually), and making 6-million a certainty. The question is, how long will it last?
HAEUNDAE also passed a big milestone over the weekend, but in its case it was the 10-million mark — just the fifth film ever to do so in Korea. HAEUNDAE made 3.74 billion won last weekend to bring its total to 71.1 billion won ($56.9 million).
Even GI JOE is doing well still, adding another 1.86 billion won to lift its total to 16.66 billion won ($13.3 million). That makes Korea far and away the strongest international territory for GI JOE outside of the United States — the next-closest territory is Russia with $7.9 million.
The top new film this week was the Korean horror film YOGA HAGWON, opening in fifth with just 957 million won, or 1.34 billion won ($1.1 million) including Thursday.
PERFECT GETAWAY opened just in sixth. But I thought the film was a lot of fun. Totally recommend if you are looking for a good summer thriller.
Pixar’s UP fell to 12th, just nosing past the 1-million-attendance mark for 7.3 billion won — just about the same as RATATOUILLE and WALL-E.
| This Week | Title…………………………………….. | Release Date | Screens Nationwide | Weekend Revenue (bil. won) | Total Revenue (bil. won) |
| 1. | Take Off (Gukga Daepyo – Korean) | 7.29 | 615 | 5.79 | 38.06 |
| 2. | Haeundae (Korean) | 7.23 | 513 | 3.74 | 71.08 |
| 3. | GI Joe | 8.06 | 372 | 1.86 | 16.66 |
| 4. | Ice Age 3 | 8.12 | 380 | 1.18 | 5.06 |
| 5. | Yoga Hagwon (Korean) | 8.20 | 329 | 0.96 | 1.34 |
| 6. | Perfect Getaway | 8.20 | 293 | 0.96 | 1.22 |
| 7. | Orphan | 8.20 | 223 | 0.76 | 0.93 |
| 8. | Sophie’s Revenge | 8.20 | 235 | 0.45 | 0.59 |
| 9. | Public Enemy | 8.12 | 294 | 0.34 | 3.06 |
| 10. | Largo Winch | 8.20 | 220 | 0.28 | 0.40 |
(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)
It somehow seems appropriate that, as I sign off on my last box office report, Korean films are currently sitting at 49.7 percent of the box office for the year. Pretty close to half. After all the downs and ups the Korean movie business has been through over the 13 years I have been here, it seems kind of cool to be leaving with things right in the middle.
Good call on “A Perfect Getaway.” It’s clever, trashy, and fun – reminded me of the kind of films I would have wanted to see at a drive-in…back when those things still existed and dinosaurs walked the earth…