Korean Box Office Update (09/23-09/25, 2011)

Weekend of September 23-25, 2011:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	The Crucible	9/22/11	685,784	914,369
2	Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon	8/10/11	149,183	7,042,686
3	Contagion (us)	9/22/11	111,932	133,147
4	Mr. Popper's Penguins (us)	9/7/11	85,808	848,949
5	Marrying the Mafia IV	9/7/11	74,487	2,283,806
6	The Killer Elite (us)	9/22/11	70,238	90,591
7	The Client	9/29/11	61,074	61,074
8	Countdown	9/29/11	32,100	39,279
9	Pained	9/7/11	24,591	673,342
10	Champ	9/7/11	17,824	514,194
-	Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild	7/27/11	10,704	2,171,074
-	Hindsight	8/31/11	5,452	761,276
-	Blind	8/10/11	4,798	2,355,927

Business was once again a little slow with 1.4 million tickets sold overall. That's slightly below last year's comparable weekend which had 1.8 million admissions. 7 of the top films were Korean and this is now the 9th weekend in a row where the top place has been occupied by a local film.

After strong previews last week, The Crucible (aka Silenced) has conquered the local box office with a big 685,784 tally on its opening weekend, that accounted for a 48.9% share of the marketplace. With nearly a million admissions tucked away already it will be interesting to see how far this goes although it will come up against some stiff competition next weekend.

Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon took its biggest slide yet as it retreated nearly 50% in its 7th weekend, although its 149,183 admissions were enough to push it over 7 million. While it is unlikely to crack 8 million, Arrow will now challenge for the local number 1 spot currently occupied by Sunny and its 7,369,213 take.

Marrying the Mafia IV took another big dive this weekend, this time over 70%. With 74,487 tickets sold this weekend it remains to be seen whether it has enough to go over its predecessors 2.5 million total.

Pained sold 24,591 tickets after falling nearly 80% and now has 673,342 admissions as it winds up its run. Champ suffered a similar fall and 17,824 for a 514,194 total. Outside of the top 10 Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, Hindsight, and Blind all posted small numbers.

The Client and Countdown, two hotly anticipated Autumn releases, had their previews this weekend.  They scored 61,074 and 32,100 admissions respectively and all eyes will be on them when they open in earnest next weekend. Also in the mix for the top place will be The Crucible's sophomore frame.


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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