[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2016.12.02 ~ 2016.12.04

Local comedy "My Annoying Brother" rises to the top amid protests...

Kwon Soo-kyeong's family comedy "My Annoying Brother" captured 30% of the box office sales to push its total tally now past the 2 million mark. The film, Kwon's second after "Barefoot Ki-bong", added 597,954 admissions from 831 screens and has now grossed $14.4 million (2.1 million admissions) since its release late last month. That means it has surpassed the 1.9 million admissions Kwon's debut film attracted back in 2006.

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Not far behind Kwon's comedy entered Lee Eon-hee's "Missing Woman" starring Uhm Ji-won and Kong Hyo-jin. From 790 screens, No's latest claimed 23.7% of the ticket sales (470,159 admissions) and pushed last weekend's number one, David Yates's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", down two places to third. Yates's film – based on J. K. Rowling book's of the same name; she also wrote the screenplay – added 432,623 admissions (22.9%) to push past "Kung Fu Panda 3"'s 3.9 million admissions and become the thirteenth highest-grossing film in Korea this year. The film still needs another 200,000 to pass Park Chan-wook's "The Handmaiden".

Two new entries from America occupied fourth and fifth place: "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (sequel to "Jack Reacher") and "Underworld: Blood Wars" (the fifth film in the franchise) both arrived on Friday and claimed 283,762 (14.2%) and 34,161 (1.7%) respectively. The German animation about a young girl who goes on a journey to save her grandfather's life, "The Little Medic: Secret Mission of the Bodynauts", move down one place to sixth with 25,871 admissions (1.2%), followed by another new local release: "Derailed" by Lee Seong-tae. This 91-minute action film is Lee's debate and stars Ma Dong-seok, Choi Minho and Kim Jae-young; the film had its premiere in October at the Busan International Film Festival, Korea's most prestigious film festival, under the Panorama section.

The second-highest grossing foreign film of the year was up next. Marvel's "Doctor Strange" has been active on Korea's chart since late October, and with the 18,152 admissions (0.9%) it claimed here, Scott Derrickson's surreal superhero flick has accumulated $40.4 million (5.4 million admissions) in Korea; worldwide, "Doctor Strange" has grossed $634.9 million having been produced for an estimated $165 million. "Miss Saigon : 25th Anniversary Performance" slipped one place to ninth with 7,319 (0.9%), followed by the Japanese animated feature "Sinbad" on 6,088 (0.3%) in tenth.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.12.02 - 2016.12.04 (www.kobis.or.kr)

 - Chris Wheeler