Korean Box Office Update (06/01-06/03, 2012)

Men in Black Stays Up Top While Domestic Releases Nibble at Its Heels

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Men in Black 3 (us)	5/24/12	26.20%	533,557	2,455,318	540
2	All About My Wife	5/17/12	22.30%	474,494	2,784,894	474
3	Runway Cop	5/30/12	15.30%	334,254	453,570	431
4	Don't Click	5/30/12	12.40%	295,733	353,034	360
5	Snow White and the Huntsmen (us)	5/30/12	11.80%	261,558	452,589	443
6	The Avengers (us)	4/26/12	4.60%	96,753	6,996,984	281
7	The Taste of Money	5/17/12	2.40%	50,357	1,131,158	248
8	Madagascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	2.60%	39,738	40,912	186
9	As One	5/3/12	0.80%	19,625	1,856,843	139
10	Inazuma Eleven Go (jp)	5/24/12	0.40%	10,872	81,756	96

I just got into Korea and since I'm dying to go out and explore I'm going to keep this a little shorter than usual, not to mention that it's late due to my traveling anyway.

Safe to say it was a good weekend for local releases even without the top spot and the totals fell in line with my predictions from last week.  2.04 million admissions this past weekend versus last year's 2.3, courtesy of Kung Fu Panda 2.  The domestic market share was at a good 55% from a diverse field of titles, much stronger than last year's 21%.

Men in Black remained in pole position with 533,557 after its strong start but it did shed over half its numbers which does not bode well for its future.

All About My Wife played very well during the week as it overtook Men in Black but though it didn't take the weekend, it's 20% drop and its big 474,494 third frame total were very impressive.  3 million is a guarantee at this point and further milestones are not out of the question.

Runway Cop, a film that does not look very appealing to me, had a decent start with 334,254.  While I have yet to hear feedback on it I have a feeling it will fade fast in the coming weeks.

The season's first K-horror Don't Click bowed with 295,733.  Not an enormous start but quite good considering its one-year delay.  It also performed better than all but one of last year's K-horror offerings (The Cat).

Snow White (the second such project this year after Mirror Mirror) expanded poorly after good previews last weekend as it wound up with only 261,558.  Too many local releases to compete with and I daresay it won't stick around for long.

The Avengers took another big drop to 96,753 but is a hair's breadth away from the 7 million milestone, avery impressive feat.

The Taste of Money continues to disappoint as it  slowed 75% for 50,357.  It has made it over the 1 million mark but only barely and may vanish from the chart by next weekend.

Madagascar 3 opened to 39,738 during previews.  It is set to expand next weekend but I can't imagine it it'll vie for the top spot.

As One took another 19,625 as it makes its way out of the chart.  2 million is close but no longer within reach.

Jap-anime Inazuma Eleven Go: The Movie sold 10,875 tickets in its sophomore spin after a big fall off for number 10.

Hong Sang-soo's latest, the Cannes entry In Another Country, was barely outside the chart as it sold 6,680 tickets during it opening bow, good enough for number 11. A very strong showing for a limited release.

Two Korean releases next week with The Emperor's Concubine and Superstar.  The former may post some midlevel numbers but I think it will disappoint.  All About My Wife should stay strong as everything else drops, however it will almost certainly be taking another spin at number 2 as the highly sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus will be opening.

Source: kobis.or.kr


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 Sunday evening or 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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