[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.10.24 ~ 2014.10.26

Gold for "Gone Girl"…

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David Fincher's latest thriller "Gone Girl" hit Korea shores late last week and topped Korea's box office with 426K admissions. The film, which stars Batman-to-be Ben Affleck, captured 29% of the box office pie from 653 screenings, and in the process dislodged Lee Myung-se and Lim Chan-sang's "My Love, My Bride - 2014" as the country's current film of choice.

Jang Jin's comedy "We Are Brothers" and Park Beom-soo-I's "Red Carpet" also entered the fray and occupied second and fourth respectively. "We Are Brother" stars Cho Jin-woong and Kim Sung-kyun as two brothers separated at birth, but who reunite to find their mother. The film opened last Thursday to 547 screens, and from them claimed over 344K admissions (22%). Last week's number one, "My Love, My Bride - 2014", added another 215K to bring its total tally now to 1.8M ($13.5M), while newcomer "Red Carpet", a comedy drama starring Yoon Kye-sang, Go Joon-hee, Oh Jung-se, and Jo Dal-hwan, slotted into fourth with 117K (7.7%) stubs scored.

The action fantasy "Dracula Untold" claimed silver last weekend with 260K, but the film's third weekend saw it fall to fifth with just 114K (7.5%). Yim Soon-rye's drama "Whistle Blower", this week's number six (61K – 3.9%), recounts the controversy around Dr Lee and his questionable stem-cell research. The film stars Park Hae-il as the journalist who blows the lid on the scientist's dubious findings, and since it was released on the 2^nd the film has amassed 1.6M admissions ($12.4M).

Not too far from Park's pressing feature came the popular young-adult sci-fi flick "The Maze Runner" (45K - 2.9%), followed closely (just 200 tickets less) by Richard Linklater's critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama "Boyhood". Linklater's popular piece has already grossed ten times the estimate $4M it took to created, and its first week in the land of the morning calm attracted a little over 45K (2.9%). At number nine, and down five places, was the spy thriller "The November Man" (19K – 1.2%), and the last weekend of October was rounded off by the French flick "Serial Bad Wedding", whose second weekend out saw it claim 18K admissions (1.2%).

What's coming out next week in Korea? [HanCinema's Film News] New Korean Films Inbound...

Last weekend's report: [HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.10.17 ~ 2014.10.19

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2014.10.24 - 2014.10.26 (www.kobis.or.kr)

- C.J. Wheeler (chriscjw@gmail.com; KoreaOnTheCouch)