[HanCinema's Film Review] Korean Weekend Box Office 2012.08.17 ~ 2012.08.19

HanCinema's Korean Box Office Review 

It's four straight weeks at the top for Choi Dong-hoon's "The Thieves" as it rolls over to 11,127,697 admissions. Even after fours weeks on circuit, "The Thieves" still managed to capture 26.80% of the ticket sales with the help of 621 screenings around the country. That's enough to keep the newcomers on the sidelines and just strong enough to keep Kim Joo-ho's historical comedy "The Grand Heist" in second with 823,140. There were also two new films that cracked the top five in the form of the American remake "Total Recall" and Kim Dong-weon's "R2B: Return to Base", but even these promising new entries couldn't detract from Choi and Kim's latest offerings as they dominated proceedings.

"The Grand Heist" was narrowly denied a top finish in its second week out. The film was less than 12,000 shy of victory this weekend as Choi's product showed why its the highest grossing Korean film of the year. Len Wiseman's remake "Total Recall" comes in at number three. With 14.10% of the ticket sales going its way, "Total Recall" claimed 432,177 admissions in its opening weekend. That was followed by Kim's "R2B: Return to Base" which held just 12.60%, despite the claiming the presences of Rain, the Korean superstar who seems to usually have the midas touch when it comes to publicity. "R2B: Return to Base" claimed 394,770 in its opening weekend, that puts the film on 726,840 total admissions since its release on the 15th.

The urban musical "Step Up Revolution" follows with 201,256, the film also had about 190 more screenings than it had last week. At number six is the Belgium animation "Sammy's Adventures 2" down one place with 146,002 (4.6%). Jang Gyu-sung's "I Am a King" is also down, falling from three to this weekend's seven. "I Am a King" has been around for three weeks now and during that time it has accumulated just 723,960 admissions.

Let's look at the bottom of the log now, starting with the "The Dark Knight Rises" at number eight. The final chapter in this Batman saga added just 72,094 to its total admissions count of 6,293,588. Impressive numbers indeed, but its looks like it just won't be enough to topple "The Avengers" as the second highest grossing film of the year so far. The number nine spot is held by the much loved "Ice Age: Continental Drift" with 57,516 (1.70%), followed by the German animation "Animals United" with 43,965 (1.30%).

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2012.08.17 - 2012.08.19 (www.kobis.or.kr)

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