[HanCinema's News] "Victory" Enjoys Final Day at the Top of the South Korean Box Office

For the past month, "Victory" has been fighting a losing battle against Alien: Romulus at the South Korean box office. The two films both came out on August 14th, and Alien: Romulus has been the clear winner head-to-head with 1,878,088 admissions to "Victory" having only 480,971 admissions. But on September 12th, the final day before "I, The Executioner" is poised to wipe out both of them, "Victory" enjoys a belated victory with 15,198 admissions to 10,494 admissions for Alien: Romulus.

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Why didn't "Victory" do better? The main issue might just be a matter of genre. "Victory" is a coming-of-age comedy about a cheerleading club, while Alien: Romulus is a sci-fi horror blockbuster from Hollywood. Alien: Romulus always had the edge in terms of sheer spectacle, as the South Korean market doesn't produce films like this locally. And neither does Hollywood, these days, giving Alien: Romulus a sense of novelty despite its long running franchise tag.

However, it's noteworthy that despite Alien: Romulus being the box office leader in the last month, South Korean films have done fairly well for themselves underneath that point. "Pilot" added 7,885 admissions to its tally, bringing the early August release to 4,661,275 admissions overall. "Pilot" has earned around thirty million dollars at the South Korean box office this year, its aviation themed comedy proving a better sell than "Victory" on concept.

The panda documentary "My Dearest Fu Bao" earned 7,512 admissions on September 12th for a respectable overall total of 180,713 admissions. The box office selections have actually been fairly balanced overall- while South Korean films had a 55.8% market share and American films a 27.5% market share, other foreign films also appear on the chart. The anime film Look Back brought Japan to 9.7%, and a rerelease of the high school drama Better Days brought China to 5.3% box office share.

This variety will certainly end with the premiere of "I, The Executioner" in South Korea. Indeed, even early releases alone gave the highly anticipated action film second place on September 12th. It earned 11,689 admissions off of only 61 screens.

Written by William Schwartz