South Korea’s box office took in $5.45 million over the weekend, pushing “Alien: Romulus” back into the top spot, despite a sharp decline the film has seen week-to-week. Among the new releases, there was joy over a Korean-produced panda documentary and disappointment over “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
“Alien: Romulus” grossed $905,000 between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, a tracking service run by the Korean Film Board. That’s down 45 percent week-over-week and a market share of less than 17 percent, but it pushed the horror film to a cumulative $14 million since its Aug. 14 release.
Early September has historically been a weak point in the Korean film industry’s calendar as the summer season ends and the biggest domestic titles postpone their releases until the Chuseok (or Korean Thanksgiving) holiday season at the end of the month. The latest Friday-Sunday totals followed that seasonal pattern and represented the third-weakest weekend tally of the year.
Chuseok starts early this year and will feature three public holidays (Monday-Wednesday, Sept. 16-18) plus a weekend. “I Am the Executioner,” known locally as “Veteran 2,” a sequel to the 2015 hit crime film “Veteran,” hits theaters Friday and is expected to dominate the holiday period. It premiered at Cannes out of competition and has another international screening this week at the Toronto festival.
But two other films that claim to be among the most appealing Korean films of the year won’t be competing for Chuseok audiences. The star-studded thriller “Runaway,” which premiered in Toronto, will instead target the Christmas market with a December release. “Uprising,” starring Jang Dong-won and Park Jung-min, will open the Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 2, but will soon head straight to streaming and be uploaded to Netflix on Oct. 11.
Korea's domestic box office charts are ranked by ticket sales figures (not gross revenue) and the concert film “Lim Young Woong IM HERO The Stadium” appears at No. 9 according to this listing. However, in terms of revenue, it was the second-highest-grossing film of the last weekend. Due to its premium price, it grossed $662,000 from 30,200 audiences and has a cumulative total of $5.05 million since August 28.
Imax announced that “Lim Young Woong IM HERO The Stadium” grossed about $600,000 in theaters this week. This brings the film’s total theatrical revenue to $2.5 million, making it the highest-grossing film in South Korea in Imax theaters.
“My Dearest Fu Bao,” a documentary directed by Shim Jun and Thomas Koo about the preparations for a giant panda’s departure from Korea, had the highest opening weekend, earning $630,000 over the weekend and $1.06 million since its release in Korean theaters on Wednesday.
Korean comedy-drama “Pilot” turned feature film, earning $437,000 over the weekend to take fourth place, bringing its total to $31.7 million.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice may have been the biggest blockbuster worldwide this week, but in South Korea it had little success. It opened in fifth place (local charts put it in sixth) with $376,000 over the weekend. Over its five full days, the film has grossed $613,000.
It was followed closely by Japanese animation “Look Back” by director Uchiyama Kiyotaka, which made $361,000 over the weekend and $528,000 including its Thursday debut.
The Korean animated film “Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” continued its successful run with revenues of $344,000 in its fifth weekend, bringing its total revenues to $6.39 million.
“Twisters” continues to dominate the box office, grossing $255,000 in its fourth weekend in Korea, for a total of $4.72 million.
The re-released Chinese film “Better Days” grossed $241,000 for a total of $1.45 million. The Korean cheerleader film “Victory” came in 10th place. It grossed $187,000 over the weekend for a total of $2.94 million.
