[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.11.25 ~ 2016.11.27

"Fantastic Beasts" holds out against "My Annoying Brother"...

The British-American fantasy flick "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" narrowly maintained pole position over Kwon Soo-kyeong's incoming family comedy, "My Annoying Brother". Last weekend J.K. Rowling's adaptation of her own work appeared and captured 68% of the sales (1.4 million admissions), and during its second week out this Harry Potter spin-off added another 895,990 stubs (45%) to bring its bottom line now to $24.7 million (3.4 million admissions). Worldwide, this week's number one has grossed $473.7 million.

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Kwon Soo-kyeong directed "Barefoot Ki-bong" (2006) and, along with Kim Hee-seong, the drama "The Flatterer!" (2015). His latest film, "My Annoying Brother", stars Cho Jung-seok and Do Kyung-soo as feuding brothers Doo-sik and Doo-yeong who start living together. From 993 screens around the country, the film claimed 37.5% of the sales (804,498 admissions) along with second place.

Marvel's "Doctor Strange" remained unmoved in third; the 103,774 admissions (4.9%) the film scored over the last weekend of November moved its total admission count in Korea now to 5.4 million ($39.9 million). According to Kobiz, "Doctor Strange" is currently the tenth highest-grossing film of the year just behind Hur Jin-ho's "The Last Princess" (5.6 million).

Last weekend's silver medalist, Eom Tae-hwa's "Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned" (starring Gang Dong-won), fell two places to fourth with 43,755 (2%), followed by a new foreign release from Germany: "The Little Medic: Secret Mission of the Bodynauts" by Peter Claridge. Claridge's animated feature opened its Korean account by attracting 30,780 filmgoers (1.4%) from 291 screens around the country.

Sixth place went to the third instalment in the "Blair Witch" series of films, simply "Blair Witch"; Adam Wingard's psychological horror hit Korean screens last Wednesday and banked $263,215 (25,650; 1.2%). Choi Gook-hee's debut "Split" (starring Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee David and Jung Sung-hwa) slipped three places to seventh with a little over a percent (24,726 admissions), followed by the 25th-anniversary performance of the musical "Miss Saigon" with 13,730 admissions.

The Japanese animation "GAMBA" (ガンバと仲間たち), released in Korea November 10, moved its total tally to 108,656 ($696,315), and the final spot went to Lee Gye-byeok's comedy drama, "Luck.Key" starring Yoo Hae-jin. Lee's latest (he also directed "The Beast and the Beauty") is not only the seventh highest-grossing film of the year, it's also the Yoo's best box office performance in a leading role. The 10,315 admissions the film gained over the weekend was not enough to push it to 7 million admissions; since its release mid-October, "Luck.Key" has grossed an impressive $47.9 million.

 - Chris Wheeler