[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.04.29 ~ 2016.05.01

Marvel's "Civil War" takes no prisoners...

Marvel Studios' much-anticipated "Captain America: Civil War" arrived in Korea last Wednesday and over the weekend this blockbuster was the only game in town. The film was allocated an incredible 1,990 screens and attracted 2.7 million filmgoers for a whopping 90.5% of the box office pie. Already "Civil War" has amassed 3.9 million admissions in Korea alone ($28.7 million), and globally Marvel's latest superhero flick has banked over $200 million. Western superhero films are very popular the world over, and Korea is no exception, and its dominance over the weekend left very little for the rest of fray to fight over.

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Last weekend's number one, Kwak Jae-yong's "Time Renegades" starring Lim Soo-jung, Cho Jung-seok and Lee Jin-uk, was abruptly dislodged from the top of the pile with just 86.6 thousand tickets sold (2.7%), bringing its total tally now to 1.1 million, or $8 million. Disney's "Zootopia" followed in third place with 76.3 thousand admissions (2.3%), moving its earnings in Korea to $31.4 million (remember "Zootopia" came out in Korea mid-February), and fourth place went to last weekend's number three: Nam Dae-joong's "The Last Ride" starring Ryu Deok-hwan, Kim Dong-young, and Ahn Jae-hong. "The Last Ride" had its screens cut from 553 to 370, but still managed to claim 30.5 thousand admissions to move its bottom line to 286 thousand ($2 million).

Park Heung-sik's historical drama "Love, Lies" was released mid-April and with the additional 80 thousand stubs scored over the weekend, the film now stands on 402 thousand admissions sold. "Love, Lies" attempted to tap into the country's love for period pieces, a lucrative genre that has spelled success for many modern Korean films over the last decade, but thus far its appeal has been lackluster. Not far behind Park's drama came Lee Cheol-ha's mystery thriller "Insane" with Kang Ye-won and Lee Sang-yoon. The film entered the charts three weeks ago where it entered in second place with 190 thousand admissions (17%), then fourth with 106 thousand the week after, and over this past weekend, it settled in sixth place with 18.6 thousand admissions (0.58%) bringing its total over the million admissions mark.

The re-release of the Italian melodrama "Life is Beautiful" by Roberto Benigni is still active in the charts; in fact, the film has actually climbed the ranks over the past three weeks and managed to settle in seventh with 10.4 thousand admissions going its way (since being re-released in Korea, "Life is Beautiful" has made over $628 thousand). Eighth place went to Billy Ray's psychological thriller "Secret in Their Eyes" (based on Eduardo Sacheri's novel: "La pregunta de sus ojos") with 6.7 thousand stubs (0.3%), and it was an extremely close contest for ninth and tenth place with the documentary "Under the Sun" and John Crowley's "Brooklyn" battling it: "Life under the Sun", which takes a hard look at North Korea through the eyes and of an ordinary family in Pyongyang, had 120 screens from which to pool from and managed to attract 6,759 thousand, while Crowley's drama (based on Colm Tóibín's novel of the same name) attracted 6,702 thousand from just had just 36 screens.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.04.29 - 2016.05.01 (www.kobis.or.kr)

- Chris Wheeler