Korean Box Office Update (12/23-12/25, 2011)

Tom Cruise's MI4 Scales Over My Way for Surprise Top Spot

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Mission: Impossible 4 (us)	12/15/11	1,230,676	3,677,069
2	My Way	12/21/11	770,220	1,001,676
3	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (us)	12/21/11	517,421	659,039
4	Perfect Game	12/21/11	340,574	473,088
5	Spellbound	12/1/11	184,145	2,536,632
6	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked (us)	12/15/11	162,953	383,500
7	Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Reshiram (jp)	12/22/11	130,231	142,727
8	Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Zekrom (jp)	12/22/11	113,229	124,173
9	The Adventures of Tintin (us)	12/7/11	39,870	773,043
10	Arthur Christmas (us)	11/25/11	31,682	614,441
-	Punch	10/20/11	856	5,315,682
-	My Barefoot Friend	12/15/11	437	1,653
-	SIU	11/24/11	271	1,118,060
-	Life Is Peachy	12/8/11	223	2,887
-	Dancing Cat	11/17/11	191	11,849
-	The Forgotten Bag	11/17/11	147	6,323
-	Too Many Villains	12/15/11	123	760

As expected, it was a huge weekend at the Korean box office this Christmas but the victor was a surprise.  After months of extraordinary performances from domestic films, the results for this frame are an unfortunate way to wrap up the year.  In total, admissions hit 3.56 million, a 10% gain over last year, one of the busiest weekends in Korean cinema history but sadly Korean films held only three of the top 10 spots and accounted for a below average 36.5% market share versus last year's 56.7%.

Korean audiences seemed starved for either blockbuster fare or children's movies over this past holiday weekend.  The bottom five of the top 10 were all movies aimed at children, including two Japanese animes.  I've been noticing the relatively poor performance of these kids' films over the past few weeks but now that I see the market share their combined efforts occupy I wonder whether foreign distributors were just a little careless in looking at the release calendar for Korea, ultimately too many films with a specific audience battled it out for a piece of the same pie.

However I have been thinking about the potential future of children's movies at the Korean box office.  Typically the country does not produce many of its own but that seems to be changing as audiences are becoming more receptive to the emerging talents of Korean-produced fare for children, especially in animation.  Kung Fu Panda 2 was directed by a Korean-American and this helped it sell over five million tickets.  A little later in the summer Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild became by far the most successful Korean animation ever made as it soared past the two million mark.  Perhaps next winter there will be some domestic children's movies beside all of Hollywood's seasonal offerings.

After last week's huge opening, Mission Impossible IV has actually increased 20% to 1,230,676.  The film has accumulated nearly four million admissions already and has done so against considerable competition.  Tom Cruise and company will likely end up very high on the yearly chart but how far will they go?

Kang Je-gyu's My Way, the highest budgeted Korean film of all time ($30 million) and probably the year's most anticipated film, had a sizable but very underwhelming debut as it took only 770,220, though it has sold just over a million tickets since opening.  Perhaps business will pick up in the coming weeks but this is an alarming start to the blockbuster war film's theater run.  Word of mouth has been mixed so far but awareness is huge for the pic.

The sequel to Sherlock Holmes had a solid debut with 517,42, slightly below the original's bow in 2009.  The Perfect Game had a decent 340,574 weekend but I expected a bit more after the strong previews.  However, there is some positive buzz surrounding the film so business could pick up, though it is a busy marketplace.  Spellbound dropped three spots but held onto to 60% of its business for a 184,145 weekend and with over 2.5 million admissions through this point, the three million mark is not out of the question.

As already mentioned the bottom five in the chart were all children's films:  Alvin and the Chipmunks (162,953); Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Reshiram (130,231); Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Zekrom (113,229); The Adventures of Tintin (39,870); and Arthur Christmas (31,682).

Outside the Top 10:  Punch shed most of its theaters and sold 856 tickets; My Barefoot Friend added 437 admission in its second week; SIU also lost the majority of its theaters and wound up with 271; Life Is Peachy dropped to 223; Dancing Cat added 191 to its impressive limited run; The Forgotten Bag sold 147 this week; and Too Many Villains, a film I'm tremendously excited to see, sadly sold a paltry 123 tickets in its second weekend, with only 760 in total.

Next Week:  All eyes will be on MI4 and My Way as we see how they perform in their third and second weeks respectively.


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. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (12/16-12/18, 2011)

Weekend of December 16-18:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (us)	12/15/11	1,079,510	1,305,581
2	Spellbound	12/1/11	313,159	2,028,187
3	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked (us)	12/15/11	134,916	142,865
4	The Adventures of Tintin (us)	12/7/11	78,342	639,251
5	Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I (us)	11/30/11	61,730	1,397,968
6	Arthur Christmas (us)	11/25/11	34,536	571,281
7	The Perfect Game	12/21/11	32,364	45,958
8	Punch	10/20/11	24,895	5,300,134
9	SIU	11/24/11	11,568	1,102,645
10	The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall (uk)	12/15/11	5,350	6,193
-	The Final Blow	12/7/11	2,323	56,846
-	The Life of a Woman (1968)		1,748	2,551
-	My Way	12/21/11	1,192	7,145
-	Ryang-kang-do: Merry Christmas, North!	11/17/11	468	9,329
-	Amen	12/8/11	360	969

Domestic business took a big hit this past weekend as Korean films were mostly shut out by Hollywood competition.  It was a similar story last year when the seventh Harry Potter film combined with other American fare to shut local movies out.  Admissions were down slightly year-on-year (1.85 versus 1.8 million) as was the Korean market share (22% versus 26%) but it was close and next weekend will no doubt see a big bounce for local products as we wrap up the year.

Tom Cruise's publicity tour of the peninsula seems to have paid off as his new installment in the Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol, had an enormous 1,079,510 opening weekend.  This accounted for 60% of all business through the three days.  Reviews are positive but competition will be very fierce next weekend when it is likely to cede its crown but perhaps the Christmas frame will be big enough to allow to retain much of its business.

Last week's surprise No. 1 Spellbound, which had increased over an already strong start, lost a little under half its business in its third weekend, no doubt succumbing to foreign competition.  It has already banked over two million admissions and will still eek out a little more but the three million looks to be out of reach.

Hollywood took the next four spots, starting with the new Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel, subtitled Chip-wrecked, which underperformed, just as it did the US.  Its 134,916 take was below its predecessor.  The Adventures of Tintin crumbled over 80% and was left with 78,342.  The new Twilight lost a similar amount, falling to 61,730.  Arthur Christmas, the third Hollywood kids film in the top 6, receded 70% for 34,536. 

Korean baseball pic The Perfect Game scored 32,364 in previews ahead of next weeks opening.  Punch saw another decline that brought it down to 24,895 and now has 5,300,134 admissions to date.  SIU lost 90% of its business as it added 11,568 during its last round in the top 10.  Rounding out the chart was The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall, a UK production of the famed musical.

Outside the top 10:  The Final Blow added 2,323 to its haul; 1968 film The Life of a Woman was rereleased and sold 1,748 tickets; My Way filled 1,192 seats in very limited previews; Documentary Ryang-kang-do: Merry Christmas, North! added 468 to its run; and Kim Ki-duk's Amen sold 360 tickets in limited engagements, he claims that there will be no further exhibitions for the film, nor will it become available on DVD, we'll see...

Next Week:  Kang Je-gyu's enormous pan-asian WWII blockbuster My Way looks set to pulverize the box office and coudl set some record numbers.  Also opening will be The Perfect Game which had strong previews this week.  Should be quite a weekend!

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. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (12/09-12/11, 2011)

Weekend of December 9-11:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Spellbound	12/1/11	590,232	1,391,938
2	The Adventures of Tintin (us)	12/7/11	407,330	477,771
3	Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I (us)	11/30/11	249,656	1,227,325
4	Arthur Christmas (us)	11/25/11	124,832	520,821
5	SIU	11/24/11	110,119	1,041,647
6	Punch	10/20/11	97,314	5,226,346
7	Blitz (us)	12/8/11	31,609	45,831
8	Sunday Punch	12/7/11	28,568	39,733
9	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	23,977	3,568,936
10	Moneyball (us)	11/17/11	9,767	631,845
-	Gilsotteum (1985)		1,692	1,692
-	The Sleep Deeper Than Death (1979)		1,342	1,798
-	Life Is Peachy	12/08/11	877	1,521
-	The Forgotten Bag	11/17/11	624	5,339
-	Dancing Cat	11/17/11	621	11,016

Another week at the 2011 Korean box office and another runaway word of mouth hit!  The year has seen quite its share of sleeper hits starting with Detective K and Clash of the Families in the first quarter before Sunny began its extraordinary run in May.  War of the Arrows, the least-awaited summer blockbuster became the year's biggest hit and the fall produced the controversial Silenced, the still-playing crowd-pleaser Punch, and now it looks as though the sophomore Spellbound may join their ranks.  A healthy 1.71 million tickets were sold this weekend, a slight uptick on last year's 1.67 and, encouragingly, the market share jumped 8 points to 49% despite only four Korean films on the chart.  Very impressive given the time of year, a season typically dominated by Hollywood holiday tentpoles.

The new No. 1 was the comedy/romance/horror blend Spellbound which, after a strong start last week, grew nearly 25% to 590,232.  The result is proof of the enduring popularity of the multi-genre pics in Korea and is reminiscent of last year's similar hit, the Cha Tae-hyun starring Hello Ghost, which ended its run with a little over 3 million admissions.  If Spellbound continues to generate good word of mouth it could easily surpass that but competition from American imports will be significant throughout December.

The Steven Spielberg-directed and Peter Jackson-produced motion capture animation Tintin opened in an enormous amount of theaters but only managed a 407,330 weekend.  A decent start but nothing to write home about.  The picture has had good reviews so perhaps it will benefit from good word of mouth down the line but this is far from certain.

Last week's No. 1, the fourth installment in the Twilight franchise, as expected saw much of its business eb away.  Though its sub-40% drop is not as devastating as it could have been.  At this rate it is unlikely to match its predecessor's final tally in Korea.  Arthur Christmas stayed relatively strong as it barely dropped, adding 124,832 to its total, though it started out with such a small figure that these small drops aren't making a hit out of it.

SIU lost about half of its business for a 110,119 weekend but managed to cross the one million admissions mark in the process though this will be its only major milestone.  Word of mouth hit Punch fell about 35% to 97,314 in its eighth week as it winds down it remarkable run.  The six million admission mark is probably out of reach.

Blitz, a Jason Statham action film that went straight-to-DVD in the US had a minor opening.  The Korean Sunday Punch opened to a weak 28,568 but it wasn't a platform release.  Real Steel and Moneyball added 23,977 and 9,767, respectively, to their totals.

Outside the Top 10:  Re-releases Gilsotteum and The Sleep Deeper Than Death sold 1,692 and 1,342 tickets; the lesbian drama Life Is Peachy sold only 877 tickets; and documentaries The Forgotten Bag and Dancing Cat added 624 and 621 tickets to their hauls.

Next Weekend:  The gangster film Too Many Villains opens.


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. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.