Sunday, March 1, 2015

Korean Box Office: British Invasion Shuts Out Local Films (2015 WK 9)


By Pierce Conran

Following the busy Lunar New Year holiday, admissions fell to 1.97 admissions over the weekend but the main victims were local films, which saw their market share plummet to 18.5%. In a surprise turn of events, it was the United Kingdom that powered the box office with a 47.5% market share from the top two films, both holdovers.


Title Market Share Weekend % Change Total Screens Screenings
1
Kingsman: The Secret Service (UK)
31.8%
596,663
-33.5%
3,374,348
667
8,210
2
The Imitation Game (UK)
15.7%
311,712
-23.7%
1,244,015
502
5,432
3
13.1%
267,486
-78.2%
3,678,138
502
6,525
4
Fifty Shades of Grey (US)
8.6%
161,096
NEW
246,520
510
6,159
5
Project Almanac (US)
6.8%
139,203
NEW
197,148
423
4,296
6
Parasyte: Part 1 (JP)
3.8%
72,056
NEW
91,425
247
1,736
7
Focus (US)
2.6%
52,139
NEW
69,471
346
2,757
8
2.5%
49,972
-89.3%
14,198,923
284
1,540
9
Spongebob 3D (US)
2.3%
49,764
-64.6%
295,869
285
1,178
10
Doraemon: Stand By Me (JP)
2.3%
49,333
-60.8%
462,056
277
1,144

Rising to first place in its third week was Kingsman: The Service Service. Extremely well-received in Korea, the spy comedy was already a hit over the Lunar New Year but after a slight 33.5% drop and a 596,663 weekend ($4.6 million), it's now a bonafide blockbuster. The film has now scored 3.37 million viewers ($25.3 million) and is now the most successful foreign R-rated film of all time in the country. The previous record holder was 300 (2007) with 2.93 million. The film should also cross Detective K 2 to become this year's surprise Lunar New Year hit, the first time a non-Korean film has has earned that distinction since China's Red Cliff 2 in 2009.

Also from the UK, The Imitation Game moved up to second following a slight 23.7% drop in its second outing with 311,712 viewers ($2.26 million). The Alan Turing drama, which picked up the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay last Sunday, has now accumulated 1.24 million admissions ($8.85 million).

Meanwhile, following two big weeks atop the chart, local period action-comedy Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island nose-dived 78.2% for another 267,486 spectators ($1.9 million). With 3.68 million viewers ($26.34 million) in total so far, it is still marginally ahead of its predecessor but looks set to fall well short of its 4.79 million cume.

Steamy book adaptation Fifty Shades of Grey could only muster 161,069 viewers ($1.24 million) in its first frame, despite being fairly visible in the news of late. Rounding out the top five was mid-level US sci-fi Project Almanac with 139,203 admissions  ($981,462) in its debut.

Next week will see the local period film Empire of Lust and murder thriller The Deal shuffle into theaters, with the former most likely to take the top spot. Not too far behind however is Birdman, which recently picked up four Oscars, including those for Best Film and Director.

All statistics come from the Korean Film Council's KOBIS box office tracking service.


New Korean Films is a weekly feature which provide an in-depth look at new local releases in Korea. For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office UpdateKorean Cinema News and the Weekly Korean Reviews, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (Korean Standard Time). Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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