49th Daejong Film Awards: Masquerade Wins... Everything

The largest movie awards show returned tonight as it held its 49th edition in Seoul. As the size and prestige of the industry has risen over the years, so has this awards show, which could be seen as Korean cinema's equivalent to the Oscars. It's not the only awards show in town as the Blue Dragon Awards, which take place in November, are also fairly prominent, but it's the longest running and the one with the highest profile.

Last year a couple of films, all with big box office tallies took home most of the awards but this year's event fortunately featured a few smaller films in the mix, not least Kim Ki-duk's Pieta, which picked up the Venice Film Festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, only a few weeks ago. The nominees list is still largely dominated by commercial hits, as this awards show as not traditionally been kind to independent fare, but it's nice to see a few make the cut. Though in the end it seems the variety was all for nought.

Click to read more»

Weekly Review Round-up (06/16-06/22, 2012)

Broad section of reviews this week as more and more Korean films see DVD, Blu-ray and theatrical releases in English-language territories, hooray!

CURRENT FILMS

All About My Wife

(8 Asians, June 20, 2012)

(Film Journal, June 21, 2012)

In Another Country

(Modern Korean Cinema, June 21, 2012)

(Twitch, June 21, 2012)

The King of XXX-Kissing

(The Korea Times, June 19, 2012)

Two Weddings and a Funeral

(The Korea Times, June 15, 2012)

Click to read more»

Dancing Queen (댄싱퀸, Daensingkwin) 2012

Just when it seemed like star power was starting to fade in Korea, a new vehicle for two of the nation’s most popular performers danced its way into the spotlight, enchanting four million local viewers in the process.  Late last year and earlier this year a host of others (I among them), were calling out Korean stars for their failure to attract audiences to domestic cineplexes.  Song Kang-ho, normally the country’s most reliable star, misfired with Hindsight (2011), the first film in over a decade from Lee Hyeon-sun (Il Mare, 2000) and a short while after Countdown drew even less receipts despite starring what should have been a potent combo with Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine, 2007; The Housemaid, 2010) and Jeong Jae-yeong (Castaway on the Moon, 2009).  Since the star system has been powerful for so long, arguably too long a time, this shift in what drives a spectator to a theater has been seen as audience’s rejection of the less than-stellar features that the studios marched into the multiplexes, especially hollow blockbusters and these empty star vehicles (though personally I thought the above two films were a little better than what most people made them out to be).

Click to read more»

Weekly Review Round-up (05/26-06/01, 2012)

The Taste of Money, which was presented late last week at the Cannes Film Festival, gets a big serving of reviews this week but Im Sang-soo may be eating some humble pie for a while.  A Screen Daily poll ranked his film as the least popular among the competition's 22 offerings.

CURRENT FILMS

In Another Country

(Seongyong's Private Place, May 31, 2012)

The Taste of Money

(Indiewire, May 26, 2012)

(moviefone, May 29, 2012)

(Movies With Butter, May 30, 2012)

(Scene in Korea, May 26, 2012)

(Screen Daily, May 26, 2012)

(The Hollywood Reporter, May 26, 2012)

(Time Out London, May 30, 2012)

(Variety, May 26, 2012)

Click to read more»

Weekly Review Round-up (04/21-04/27, 2012)

A number reviews for My Way as it plays in limited release across the US and some reviews from the recent Terracotta Far East Film Festival and the current Udine Far East Film Festival.

RECENT RELEASES

Always

(A Girl's Journey to the East, April 27, 2012)

Arirang

(Cine Vue, April 22, 2012)

Chilling Romance

(Hangul Celluloid, April 24, 2012)

Couples

(London Korean Links, April 22, 2012)

Dancing Cat

(Seen in Jeonju, April 22, 2012)

Dancing Queen

(Counting Pulses, April 21, 2012)

(London Korean Links, April 23, 2012)

Moby Dick

(CUEAFS, April 22, 2012)

My Way

(artsandcultruentx.com, April 25, 2012)

(Cinema Eye, April 26, 2012)

(Colourless Opinions, April 26, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, April 26, 2012)

(movietimes.com, APril 22, 2012)

(New York Post, April 22, 2012)

Penny Pinchers

(The One One Four, April 22, 2012)

Perfect Partner

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 26, 2012)

Planet of Snail

(Twitch, April 25, 2012)

Punch

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 25, 2012)

Silenced

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 27, 2012)

(The Bangkok Post, April 27, 2012)

Sunny

(CUEAFS, April 25, 2012)

The Client

(Drama Beans, April 22, 2012)

The Day He Arrives

(Salon, April 21, 2012)

The Front Line

(Rockets & Robots Are Go, April 21, 2012)

The Yellow Sea

(Columbia Daily Tribune, April 26, 2012)

War of the Arrows

(myreviewer.com, April 27, 2012)

PAST FILMS

Castaway on the Moon, 2009

(Japan Cinema, April 27, 2012)

Feathers in the Wind, 2005

(Otherwhere, April 23, 2012)

Flower Island, 2001

(Init_Scenes, April 24, 2012)

Iodo, 1977

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 24, 2012)

Mr. Wacky, 2006

(VCinema Show, April 24, 2012)

Night Journey, 1977

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 25, 2012)

Pollen, 1972

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 24, 2012)

Rainy Days, 1979

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 25, 2012)

Shadowless Sword, 2005

(mihansa.net, April 19, 2012)

The Old Garden, 2006

(Korean Grindhouse, April 21, 2012)

Treeless Mountain, 2009

(Aidy Revies, April 26, 2012)

Wang Sib Ri, My Hometown, 1976

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 27, 2012)

Yeongja's Heyday, 1975

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 27, 2012)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. 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.

Weekly Review Round-up (03/17-03/23, 2012)

Lots of great writeups in this week's review round-up including for a number of new Korean releases.

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Architecture 101

(Scene in Korea, March 22, 2012)

Dancing Queen

(The Hollywood Reporter, March 20, 2012)

Gabi

(Scene in Korea, March 17, 2012)

Romance Joe

(Slant Magazine, March 17, 2012)

RECENT FILMS

Always

(Twitch, March 20, 2012)

(Xu Mobile, March 16, 2012)

Hindsight

(Twitch, March 20, 2012)

Invasion of Alien Bikini

(Hangul Celluloid, March 19, 2012)

I Saw the Devil

(Init_Scenes, March 19, 2012)

Moss

(ROK Drop, March 20, 2012)

Penny Pinchers

(Beyond Hollywood, March 21, 2012)

Quick

(Twitch, March 20, 2012)

S.I.U.

(Beyond Hollywood, March 22, 2012)

Sunny

(Drama Rants, March 22, 2012)

(While You on Earth, March 22, 2012)

The Apprehenders

(Init_Scenes, March 17, 2012)

The Beast

(Beyond Hollywood, March 20, 2012)

The Housemaid

(Movies With Butter, March 18, 2012)

The Man From Nowhere

(Korean Candy, March 19, 2012)

The Perfect Game

(Groove Korea, March 18, 2012)

PAST FILMS

Actresses, 2009

(Otherwhere, March 16, 2012)

Breathless, 2008

(Asian Movie Pulse, March 18, 2012)

Drifting Islands, 1960

(Seen in Jeonju, March 19, 2012)

Lost in the Mountains, 2009

(Rainy Day Movies, March 18, 2012)

Oasis, 2002

(Next Projection, March 19, 2012)

The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well, 1996

(Korean Grindhouse, March 17, 2012)

Vengeance Trilogy, 2002-2005

(Init_Scenes, March 22, 2012)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. 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.

Weekly Review Round-up (03/10-03/16, 2012)

Another huge Weekly Review Round-up as the Korean blogathon came to an end.  A great wealth of films covered stretching across every time, genre and style you could imagine.

Enjoy!

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Dancing Queen

(The One One Four, March 14, 2012)

Eighteen, Nineteen

(Scene in Korea, March 9, 2012)

Jesus Hospital

(hancinema.net, March 10, 2012)

Stateless Things

(Scene in Korea, March 10, 2012)

RECENT RELEASES

A Little Pond

(Unseen Films, March 10, 2012)

Blind

(Far East Films, March 11, 2012)

(VCinema, March 9, 2012)

Cyrano Agency

(We Eat Lemon, March 10, 2012)

Ghastly

(Film in Asian, March 12, 2012)

Invasion of Alien Bikini

(cineAWESOME!, March 11, 2012)

Metamorpheses

(VCinema, March 9, 2012)

Oki's Movie

(Unseen Films, March 11, 2012)

Penny Pinchers

(Far East Films, March 11, 2012)

Poetry

(KOFFIA Blog, March 11, 2012)

Punch

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, March 13, 2012)

Quick

(Unseen Films, March 10, 2012)

Silenced

(Hangul Celluloid, March 10, 2012)

Sunny

(YAM Magazine, March 11, 2012)

The Day He Arrives

(The Montreal Gazette, March 8, 2012)

The Last Blossom

(Init_Scenes, March 13, 2012)

The Yellow Sea

(KOFFIA Blog, March 10, 2012)

(Varied Celluloid, March 9, 2012)

War of the Arrows

(Asian Movie Pulse, March 10, 2012)

(Modern Korean Cinema, March 11, 2012)

(Korean Grindhouse, March 11, 2012)

PAST FILMS

200 Pounds Beauty, 2006

(YAM Magazine, March 11, 2012)

A Bittersweet Life, 2005

(John Kreng, March 9, 2012)

(VCinema, March 11, 2012)

Ad Lib Night, 2006

(Flying Guillotine, March 8, 2012)

Another Public Enemy, 2005

(Rainy Day Movies 9, 2012)

Bad Guy, 2001

(Next Projection, March 12, 2012)

Christmas in August, 1998

(We Eat Lemon, March 10, 2012)

Dream, 2008

(Next Projection, March 13, 2012)

Duelist, 2005

(Rainy Day Movies 7, 2012)

Epitaph, 2007

(VCinema, March 8, 2012)

Haeundae, 2009

(Hong Kong Rewind, March 9, 2012)

Hansel and Gretel, 2007

(Orion's Ramblings, March 11, 2012)

In Between Days, 2006

(Podcasts Without Honor and Humanity, March 9, 2012)

Life Is Cool, 2008

(Unseen Films, March 9, 2012)

M, 2007

(Rainy Day Movies 7, 2012)

Marathon, 2005

(Init_Scenes, March 9, 2012)

(Podcasts Without Honor and Humanity, March 7, 2012)

Mother, 2009

(At the Cinema, March 11, 2012)

My Dear Enemy, 2008

(Unseens Films, March 11, 2012)

My Heart Beats, 2009

(Korean Grindhouse, March 5, 2012)

Nowhere to Hide, 1999

(Rainy Day Movies 7, 2012)

Oasis, 2002

(Rainy Day Movies 8, 2012)

Oishii Man, 2008

(Podcasts Without Honor and Humanity, March 6, 2012)

Peppermint Candy, 1999

(Rainy Day Movies 8, 2012)

Public Enemy, 2002

(Rainy Day Movies 9, 2012)

Public Enemy Returns, 2008

(Rainy Day Movies 9, 2012)

Rikidozan, 2004

(VCinema, March 11, 2012)

Sky Blue, 2003

(VCinema, March 9, 2012)

The Good, the Bad and the Weird, 2008

(Greetings From Movie City, March 8, 2012)

The Power of Kangwon Province, 1998

(Oriental Film House, March 10, 2012)

Tigresses, 1977

(Planet Choco Zine, March 9, 2012)

Time, 2006

(Next Projection, March 11, 2012)

Truck, 2007

(Unseen Films, March 9, 2012)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. 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 (03/09-03/11, 2012)

Helpless Continues Korean Hot Streak With First Place Finish

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Helpless	3/8/12	35.60%	606,548	685,016	547
2	John Carter of Mars (us)	3/8/12	24.90%	368,197	413,150	511
3	Love Fiction	2/29/12	14.90%	251,821	1,477,986	434
4	This Means War (us)	2/29/12	8.60%	145,037	583,016	306
5	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	5.50%	93,198	4,570,798	301
6	Stanley's Tiffin Box (in)	3/8/12	1.30%	24,847	33,395	162
7	Howling	2/16/12	1.30%	24,162	1,583,645	240
8	Legends of Valhalla: Thor (ic)	2/9/12	1.10%	20,348	739,037	169
9	Safe House (us)	2/29/12	0.90%	15,157	155,265	180
10	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	0.80%	14,701	4,000,931	114

The Korean Film industry's hot streak continues as a local film has led the marketplace for the 8th consecutive week.  This week's new leader is the 6th Korean film to occupy the spot in the past two months.  The more recent Korean films haven't been word of mouth hits like those earlier this year but nevertheless business is good and next week will likely yield yet another new Korean film in pole position.   Let's look at how this week's films fared.

Coming in first place was the new thriller Helpless which stirred up a little bit of controversy earlier this year when one of its one sheets was deemed too risqué and subsequently banned from promotional use.  The film opened with a very healthy 606,548 and reviews have generally been positive.  Given the sophomore stints of a lot of the past few weeks' films it's hard to day how it will hold up, not to mention another big opener bowing in a few days.

John Carter, the $250 million dollar Disney sci-fi pic bombed in the US this weekend but seemed to have slightly better luck in Korea with a decent 368,197 admissions during its opening.  It's not an enormous figure but the property is not known in the east so it performed about as well as could be expected.  Given the film's mediocre reviews, it is unlikely that this will stick around for long but it is not impossible that it could build an audience.  There's a deficit of sci-fi product in the country so this could potentially fill that spot.

Love Fiction saw a fairly steep 55% decline after its big opening which left it with 251,821.  It's a shade below 1.5 million admissions in total and shouldn't have much trouble crossing two.  It was strong out of the gate but looks to be fading fast.

This Means War dropped two spots to number four as it added 145,037 to its total, this represented a healthy 30% drop.  With more weekends like this it could cross the 1 million mark before long.

Nameless Gangster dropped again, this time 50% for 93,198.  It has 4.57 million admissions stowed away but seems less and less likely to make it to the big 5 mark though.  Of course that's just an arbitrary milestone as the film has of course been extremely successful.

Indian film Stanley's Tiffin Box opened with 24,847, a strong figure for a South Asian Film though nowhere near as impressive as 3 Idiot's run last summer.

Howling slipped three spots and was off 77% as it took another 24,162.  Sadly this looks like the end of the line for this well-liked film that simply got lost in the shuffle.

Icelandic animation Legends of Valhalla: Thor is hanging in there as it spends a 5th week in the top 10 with 20,348 take.  It won't cross the one million mark but getting past 750,000 will be seen as a strong achievement.

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds thriller Safe House completely crumbled after it's already disastrous opening as it pulled in a meager 15,157 after a 78% drop.   We won't be hearing about this one anymore.

Closing out the top 10 is likely the last appearance of Dancing Queen as it shed half its theaters and slowed over 70%.  However its 14,701 weekend was enough to just cross over the four million mark, a fitting milestone to commemorate its very impressive box office run.

Next week the big new release will be Russian Coffee (Gabi) which will seek to push Helpless out of top spot.  I imagine it will though I am not expecting any gargantuan figure for its opening.  The film has had a troubled production and I'm not sure how high interest is, though certainly awareness is widespread.  Also opening is Hollywood romance The Vow and Chinese epic 1911.

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. 

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 (03/2-03/4, 2012)

Love Fiction and Ha Jung-woo Conquer the Marketplace

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Love Fiction	2/29/12	37.60%	567,529	1,013,532	615
2	This Means War (us)	2/29/12	13.90%	212,387	337,149	351
3	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	12.90%	194,585	4,399,127	350
4	Howling	2/16/12	6.40%	103,240	1,531,667	372
5	Man on a Ledge (us)	2/22/12	4.50%	70,935	546,532	284
6	Safe House (us)	2/29/12	4.40%	70,148	115,418	291
7	Act of Valor (us)	2/29/12	3.50%	54,371	99,208	222
8	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	3.20%	51,315	3,966,611	220
9	Legends of Valhalla: Thor (ic)	2/9/12	2.50%	42,211	717,099	249
10	Hugo (us)	2/29/12	2.00%	22,400	40,418	85

The dominance of local films shows no signs of abating as yet another high profile Korean release has clinched the top spot.  March is typically a very slow time for theaters but nevertheless over 1.5 million tickets were sold over the past weekend, a 20% increase over last year's similar frame.  Meanwhile Korean films accounted for a very healthy 60% of business which more than doubled last year's result.

As predicted Love Fiction came in strong with a big first place finish as it sold 567,529 tickets and has already accumulated over a million admissions since its release.  Ha Jung-woo has the distinction of starring in two of the chart's top three films and there is no question that he has become a significant draw for as top billing.  Word of mouth seems decent on this pic and it should continue to do some strong business though competition will be very fierce with a number of high profile local and foreign releases opening in the coming weeks.

Hollywood romance-action film This Means War floundered in America so its 212,387 take here comes as a bit of a surprise though it is by no means an exceptional figure.  In any case it won't last as it will likely crumble in its sophomore frame against heavy competition.

Nameless Gangster continues its strong run though it did slow 45% this past week as it wound up with another 194,585.  It has 4.4 million admissions stacked way so far and it may struggle to reach the big 5 million milestone though stands a fighting chance of reaching the mark.  It is certainly the early hit of 2012 and may be some time before another film unseats it at the top of the chart.

Howling meanwhile continues its disappointing performance as it dropped 60% for a 103,240 take.  Word of mouth has been strong for the film but it got lost amidst so many unexpected hits in February.  At this rate it may not even reach the 2 million threshold.  After the failure of last year's Hindsight, could it be that Song Kang-ho's drawing power is fading?

Man on a Ledge crumbled over 70% in its sophomore frame as it added 70,935 tickets to its haul.  Hollywood's Denzel Washington genre pic Safe House failed to find a mark as it opened with 70,148.  Act of Valor, wich surprised in the US last week, didn't find an audience in Korea as it sold only 54,371 tickets during its opening.

Dancing Queen fell 65% as it added 51,315 admissions to its take.  However, it should cross the 4 million mark in a few days and that is a very impressive achievement.

Icelandic animation film Legends of Valhalla: Thor finished with a 42,211 weekend for 9th place while Martin Scorsese's 3D pic Hugo disappointed as it took the 10th spot with a measly 22,400.

Next week there are no less than eight Korean films opening including the highly-anticipated Helpless which is getting some strong reviews.  Meanwhile major Hollywood blockbuster John Carter will also be opening.  I think Helpless will take the crown as the John Carter proprety is not in itself going to be a draw for local audiences.  In any case Korean cinema looks to continue to do well and will likely do strong business throughout March.

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. 

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 (02/24-02/26, 2012)

Nameless Gangster Fights Back During Close Weekend

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Nameless Gangster	2/2/12	22.10%	353,394	3,987,379	495
2	Howling	2/16/12	19.30%	330,321	1,237,340	467
3	Man On a Ledge (us)	2/22/12	15.70%	260,386	334,604	409
4	Dancing Queen	1/18/12	8.90%	152,620	3,820,406	344
5	Underworld 4 (us)	2/22/12	7.60%	101,695	138,798	343
6	Legends of Valhalla (is)	2/9/12	5.40%	96,310	578,744	293
7	The Iron Lady (uk)	2/23/12	2.90%	47,564	56,386	154
8	Tarbosaurus 3D	1/26/12	3.30%	44,462	958,933	161
9	The Grey (us)	2/16/12	2.50%	41,876	279,309	214
10	Legend of a Rabbit (ch)	2/22/12	2.30%	41,448	58,679	224

It was another nail-biter this past weekend as the top two films battled for first place.   Overall business was down somewhat from last weekend and last year but on the plus side the domestic share remained strong as local films sold two out of every three tickets over the frame.

Nameless Gangster came out on top in the end with 353,394, its third chart-topping performance in four weeks.  Even more good news is that the film will cross the four million mark on Monday and stands a a good chance of reaching another benchmark.  It will face some competition in the coming weeks, mostly from more Korean releases, but things will get harder in March as new Hollywood male-skewing blockbusters will enter the marketplace.

Howling was a close number two with 330,321 but this represented an unimpressive 40% drop which, for a second weekend, typically means that the picture hasn't caught on.  The film is well past the one million mark and will likely cross two before too long but is unlikely to go any further.   Given the film's positive notices it's hard to see why the film didn't follow the success of the very recent Korean hits but perhaps that's just it.  Too many local films found a big audience in a short time frame, which no one expected, making it difficult for even a solid release such as this one to squeeze out similar numbers.

Hollywood thriller Man On a Ledge opened with a decent 260,386 but will likely tumble down a few flights come next weekend.

Dancing Queen slipped another spot for 152,620 but was only off 15%.  At this rate it will become the second release of the year to cross the four million mark within a week, after Nameless Gangster beats it to the milestone by a few days.   A great performance though soon it will have to make way for new local products readying for release.

Underworld 4 barely registered with a 101,695 opening weekend but this comes as no surprise given that the franchise has not previously met with much success on the peninsula.

Icelandic animation Legends of Valhalla: Thor continued its unlikely run as it added another 96,310 to its modestly successful total.

Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady opened with 47,564, not too bad considering such a film would have limited appeal in Korea.

Korean animation Tarbosaurus 3D dropped another spot and nearly 40% for 44,462 but it looks set to become only the second Korean animation, after last year's Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, to cross the one million admissions mark domestically.

Liam Neeson vehicle The Grey crumbled in its sophomore weekend, falling four rungs and losing 70% of its business for a tepid 41,876 take.  The action pic is unlikely to register in the top 10 for a third weekend.

Chinese animation Legend of a Rabbit was a no-go as it debuted in tenth place with 41,448.   Too many animation films lately meant that this one never really stood a chance.

Unbowed just missed the top 10 with 35,842 as it crossed 3.4 million admissions.

Next week's major release is the Ha Jung-woo and Kong Hyo-jin romcom Love Fiction.  Ha is already riding high with Nameless Gangster and will likely end up as the lead of next weekend's top two films.   The question is how well will his latest fare?   I'm betting it will do quite well, perhaps pulling in over 500,000 admissions.

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. 

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.