Korean Box Office Update (01/13-01/15, 2012)

Puss in Boots Holds Local Films at Bay

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Puss in Boots (us)	1/11/12	33.80%	590,740	704,725	593
2	Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (us)	12/15/11	18.00%	362,326	6,914,588	461
3	Love On-Air	1/5/12	10.80%	225,174	781,810	358
4	The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (us)	1/11/12	9.50%	185,758	228,385	321
5	Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (us)	12/21/11	7.70%	154,399	2,160,333	270
6	Perfect Game	12/21/11	6.40%	128,734	1,392,738	266
7	The Outback	1/12/12	3.30%	70,297	87,383	234
8	White Vengeance (hk)	1/11/12	2.70%	55,498	70,345	163
9	My Way	12/21/11	2.20%	45,009	2,121,331	219
10	Friends: Naki on Monster Island (jp)	12/29/11	1.70%	36,930	496,880	191

For the fifth weekend in a row a major Hollywood release has trumped local fare at the Korean box office.  A new champion, of the animated variety, rose to the top this week.  Overall business was up from 1.47 to 1.75 million admissions year on year while once again the market share for Korean films tumbled to 24%, from last year's 43%.

Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots had a big weekend with 590,740 tickets sold.  That's a lot more than Megamind which took the top spot at the same time last year.

MI4 added another 362,326 tickets to its enormous haul as it dropped less than a third and is now inches from the 7 million mark an could still threaten another milestone, making it the biggest film released in 2011.

Love On-Air (aka Wonderful Radio) had an encouraging small drop (20%) in its sophomore frame which, given poor reviews, I wasn't expecting.  The future looks a little rosier for the midlevel film but after such a mediocre opening this is closer to damage control than success.  Still, if it continues like this it could end up well north of the one million mark.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opened with 185,758 which is not a particularly encouraging figure for a film tat was expected to play strongly in international territories, maybe word of mouth will bolster its run further down the line.  Perhaps Sherlock Holmes sequel Game of Shadows dropped about a third as it crossed the 2 million mark with its 154,399 weekend, a good showing for a sequel that has underperformed elsewhere.

Perfect Game stayed more or less flat this weekend with 154,399, which is impressive.  It will come close to the two million mark but is unlikely to cross it.  Animated film The Outback, featuring a number of K-pop star on vocal duties, opened soft 70,297.  Truth be told I hadn't even heard of the film before this weekend, I'm not sue who else did.

Hong Kong period epic White Vengeance began its run with 55,498 while mega-blockbuster and equally large box office bomb My Way slowed to 45,009 in its probable final top 10 finish.  Friends: Naki on Monster Island Japanese anime roudned out the top 10 with 36,930.

Next Week:  Lunar day weekend is nearly upon us and it's about time as the tired current local fare is in desperate need of replacement.  Opening next week are Pacemaker, Dancing Queen, Neverending Story, and Unbowed. Pacemaker looks to come out on top but let's hope it can nudge out foreign competition for a much needed local win.

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 (01/06-01/08, 2012)

MI4 Takes Fourth Victory Lap, Closes in on Record

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (us)	12/15/11	477,851	6,243,796
2	Wonderful Radio	1/5/12	281,296	334,855
3	Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (us)	12/21/11	223,500	1,862,606
4	Perfect Game	12/21/11	133,580	1,155,313
5	Friends: Naki on Monster Island (jp)	12/29/11	118,342	407,958
6	My Way	12/21/11	112,905	2,002,323
7	The Darkest Hour (us)	1/5/12	82,684	98,450
8	Lion King 3D (us)	7/9/94	46,257	270,993
9	Spellbound	12/1/11	46,231	2,945,469
10	Pokemon: White - Victini and Zekrom (jp)	12/22/11	30,116	345,153
-	My Barefoot Friend	12/15/11	378	2,970
-	Bleak Night	3/3/11	139	22,350
-	Green Days	6/23/11	120	51,195
-	King of Pigs	11/3/11	118	18,782
-	Jam Docu KANGJUNG	12/22/11	68	502

Local business had another tough frame with only one midlevel opening and diminishing returns from holdovers as Hollywood continued to trump domestic offerings.  1.62 million tickets were sold this past weekend, a marginal increase of last year's comparable weekend whereas the Korean film market share was down to 35% from 75%.

Mission Impossible IV continued its remarkable run, banking another 477,851 admissions, though that was down a little over 50%.  With 6,243,796 tickets sold to date it's still another 1.5 million away from Transformers 3's 2011 crown which may be mission impossible but we'll see if Ethan Hunt and crew can pull it off.

Wonderful Radio, in the midst of terrible reviews had a so-so opening with 281,296.  Assuming a less than encouraging word of mouth, the picture may see a quick exit from theaters, especially as it loses screens and business in two weeks to lunar day releases.

The second Sherlock Holmes lost about half its business in its third outing, garnering 223,500 sales.  It looks set to cross the two million mark, which will likely be its last major milestone as it continues to diminish through the month.

Perfect Game has crossed the one million mark but has done so with little fanfare as the well-received baseball pic has added 133,580 to its total this weekend.  A mediocre performance for a big holiday release.

Meanwhile My Way dropped all the way to number 6 as it added 112,905 admissions and has now inched over the 2 million mark, so much for 10 million!

Spellbound at number 9 sold another 46,231 tickets as it winds down its run and is now very close to the 3 millin mark.

Jesus Hospital is the Korean film opening next week and I can't imagine it will be in any position to boost domestic ticket sales.  We'll have to wait until the following Lunar Day weekend when a number of high profile releases find their way into theaters.  MI4 may spend a fifth week on top, unless The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opens big.


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.

Weekly Review Round-up (12/31, 2011 - 01/06, 2012)

For the first WEEKLY REVIEW ROUND-UP of 2012, a few reviews for new releases in Korea and a lot of pieces on older Korean films which is always nice to see.

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Pacemaker

(The Korea Times, January 4, 2012)

Spellbound

(8Asians, January 4, 2012)

(The One One Four, January 2, 2012)

Wonderful Radio

(The Korea Times, December 29, 2011)

RECENT RELEASES

A Better Tomorrow

(joblo.com, January 4, 2012)

GLove

(Modern Korean Cinema, January 5, 2012)

Mama

(Modern Korean Cinema, January 3, 2012)

Man of Vendetta

(Rainy Day Movies, January 3, 2012)

No Doubt

(Init_Scenes, January 4, 2012)

Poongsan

(Asian Movie Web, January 2, 2012)

Rolling Home With a Bull

(Init_Scenes, January 3, 2012)

Sector 7

(New Korean Cinema, January 4, 2012)

Sunny

(Hangul Celluloid, December 30, 2011)

(The One One Four, January 5, 2012)

The Yellow Sea

(Asian Movie Pulse, January 3, 2012)

You're My Pet

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, January 4, 2012)

PAST FILMS

A Good Night's Sleep For the Bad, 2009

(Init_Scenes, December 31, 2011)

Baby and Me, 2008

(UnitedKpop, December 31, 2011)

Death Bell, 2008

(Twitch, January 4, 2012)

I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay, 2007

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, January 2, 2012)

Pyongyang Nalpharam, 2006

(North Korean Films, January 3, 2012)

Secret Sunshine, 2007

(koreanfilm.org, January 1, 2012)

Silmido, 2003

(gwangjublog.com, January 3, 2012)

Taegugki, 2004

(Nerdlocker, January 5, 2012)

Tale of Cinema, 2005

(Rainy Day Movies, January 4, 2012)

The Host, 2006

(Film in Asian, January 4, 2012)

Untold Scandal, 2003

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, January 5, 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.