[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.11.04 ~ 2016.11.06

"Doctor Strange" and "Luck.Key" capture 83% of the box office pie...

Marvel's "Doctor Strange" retained pole position by attracting another million admissions (58.6%) during its second weekend out in Korea. The film's first weekend saw 1.6 million filmgoers flock to its screens (63%), and with this weekend's take included, the film's totally tally swelled to 3.9 million ($30.4 million). Worldwide, Scott Derrickson's "Doctor Strange" has grossed $325.4 million having been produced for an estimated $165 million.

Advertisement

Lee Gye-byeok's comedy drama "Luck.Key" (starring Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Joon and Jo Yoon-hee) lead the pack three weeks ago, before Marvel's latest came to town, and remains the most popular local flick in second place. From the 848 screens allocated, 450,923 admissions came "Luck.Key"'s way as its bottom line now moved to $45.2 million (6.3 million admissions). Lee's sophomore film (after "The Beast and the Beauty") is now the eighth highest-grossing film of the year behind "The Wailing" (6.8 million) and "Operation Chromite" (7 million).

Third place went again to Lee Do-hwan's fear film "Hide-and-Never Seek" (aka "Hide-and-Never Seek") starring with Ryu Deok-hwan, Jo Bok-rae and Lee Soo-bin. "Hide-and-Never Seek" is Lee's debut feature, and with the 125,225 admissions (4.3%) it claimed over the weekend from 498 screens, his first film's figures have increased to 273,028 ($1.8 million). David Mackenzie's neo-western "Hell or High Water" (starring Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine), which premiered at Cannes back in May under the Un Certain Regard section, arrived last Thursday and found itself in fourth with 38,333 (2%) during its first weekend out. It was closely followed by the Japanese animation "Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger the Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland" by director Shôjirô Nakazawa with 38.098 admissions (1.9%).

Jeon In-hwan's documentary "Moo-hyun, the Story of Two Cities" about South Korea's former president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, climbed two places to settle in sixth with 35,613 admissions (1.9%), followed by the Thai romance film "Teacher's Diary" (2014) on 30,827 (1.9%). For the past three week's South Korea filmgoers have been enjoying a re-release of Nick Cassavetes's 2004 romantic drama "The Notebook", and with the 24,364 admissions the film claimed over this past weekend, the film's reappearance has attracted over half a million (562,369 admissions, or $3.3 million). "The Notebook" was made for $29 million and eventually went on to gross $115.6 million worldwide.

The Chinese animation "The Little Mermaid: Attack of the Pirates" nestled in ninth with 20,917 admissions (1%), and the final slot in the top ten went to Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name, "Inferno". "Inferno" is the third film in the Robert Langdon series of films (after "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons) and was released in Korea mid-October where it entered in second place. Since its release, however, the film has been slipping towards the wrong end of the chart (last weekend it claimed fourth with 56,383 admissions) and fell six places here having scored just 19.792 admissions (1%). With this weekend haul added, "Inferno" has grossed $4.8 million (675,250) in Korea alone, and, worldwide, Howard's adaptation has banked $185.4 million (the film was produced for $75 million).

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.11.04 - 2016.11.06 (www.kobis.or.kr)

 - Chris Wheeler