Showing posts with label pained. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pained. Show all posts

Monday, September 26, 2011

Korean Box Office Update (09/23-09/25, 2011)

Weekend of September 23-25, 2011:

Title Release Date Weekend Total
1 The Crucible 9/22/11 685,784 914,369
2 Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon 8/10/11 149,183 7,042,686
3 Contagion (us) 9/22/11 111,932 133,147
4 Mr. Popper's Penguins (us) 9/7/11 85,808 848,949
5 Marrying the Mafia IV 9/7/11 74,487 2,283,806
6 The Killer Elite (us) 9/22/11 70,238 90,591
7 The Client 9/29/11 61,074 61,074
8 Countdown 9/29/11 32,100 39,279
9 Pained 9/7/11 24,591 673,342
10 Champ 9/7/11 17,824 514,194
- Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild 7/27/11 10,704 2,171,074
- Hindsight 8/31/11 5,452 761,276
- Blind 8/10/11 4,798 2,355,927


Business was once again a little slow with 1.4 million tickets sold overall. That's slightly below last year's comparable weekend which had 1.8 million admissions. 7 of the top films were Korean and this is now the 9th weekend in a row where the top place has been occupied by a local film.

After strong previews last week, The Crucible (aka Silenced) has conquered the local box office with a big 685,784 tally on its opening weekend, that accounted for a 48.9% share of the marketplace. With nearly a million admissions tucked away already it will be interesting to see how far this goes although it will come up against some stiff competition next weekend.

Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon took its biggest slide yet as it retreated nearly 50% in its 7th weekend, although its 149,183 admissions were enough to push it over 7 million. While it is unlikely to crack 8 million, Arrow will now challenge for the local number 1 spot currently occupied by Sunny and its 7,369,213 take.

Marrying the Mafia IV took another big dive this weekend, this time over 70%. With 74,487 tickets sold this weekend it remains to be seen whether it has enough to go over its predecessors 2.5 million total.

Pained sold 24,591 tickets after falling nearly 80% and now has 673,342 admissions as it winds up its run. Champ suffered a similar fall and 17,824 for a 514,194 total. Outside of the top 10 Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, Hindsight, and Blind all posted small numbers.

The Client and Countdown, two hotly anticipated Autumn releases, had their previews this weekend.  They scored 61,074 and 32,100 admissions respectively and all eyes will be on them when they open in earnest next weekend. Also in the mix for the top place will be The Crucible's sophomore frame.


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Korean Box Office Update (09/16-09/18, 2011)

Weekend of September 16-18, 2011:

TitleRelease DateWeekendTotal
1Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon8/10/11292,9316,589,663
2Marrying the Mafia IV9/7/11258,4661,917,256
3Mr. Popper's Penguins (us)9/7/11172,668640,685
4Pained9/7/11105,016555,879
5The Crucible22/9/201180,14689,201
6Rise of the Planet of the Apes (us)17/8/201170,4672,626,488
7Champ9/7/1169,780421,633
8Shark Night 3D (us)15/9/201149,64661,148
9Final Destination 5 (us)9/8/1143,462206,718
10Hindsight31/8/201142,814681,757
-Blind8/10/1129,2712,304,931
-Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild7/27/1123,7332,141,264
-The Day He Arrives8/9/114,50122,966


Following last week's Chuseok festivities, box office receipts have shrunk down considerably with no major new film on wide release. The good news is that just like the last few weeks local fare has dominated on the charts.

Having relinquished its crown to last week's winner Marrying the Mafia IV, Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon is back on top again with 292,931 which represents a sub-30% drop from last weekend. With nearly 6.6 million admissions as of Sunday, Arrow is well positioned to overtake Sunny in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile the latest Marrying the Mafia installment had a predictably steep decline of 55%, taking 258,466 in its sophomore frame. If it manages to level out somewhat it wil easily have enough steam to drive its total above that of the franchise's last entry.

Kwon Sang-woo's lastest Pained saw a standard decline and raked in another 105,016 admissions but after it mediocre opening this may not be enough to bring it over a million.

The Crucible was the only new Korean film to play nationwide but it did so in only 221 theaters for previews and is scheduled for its full release on September 22. Nevertheless it managed to pull in 80,146 which is a good omen for its chances, it remains to be seen how the word-of-mouth will affect its chances.

Cha Tae-hyun's latest comedy Champ took a dive this week and nearly saw its take slashed in half with only 69,780 added to its coffers. It will likely fall out of the top 10 entirely next week.

Hindsight also slowed by nearly 50% with another 42,814 tickets sold. Its chances at one million admissions are all but nil at this point.

Outside of the top 10 Blind and Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild both fell by another 30% and their respective totals now stand at 2,304,931 and 2,141,264. Hong Sang-soo's latest The Day He Arrives added another 4,501 admissions to bring its two-week total to 22,966, a good start for this acclaimed limited release.


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Korean Box Office Update (09/09-09/11, 2011)

This is the first edition of Modern Korean Cinema's Weekly B.O. Update and as such is in a trial phase and is subject to changes over the coming weeks. I know that there are other places which provide box office information and analysis for Korean cinema but I believe that I can bring a slightly different approach. I aim to be analytical and thorough as I examine the weekly returns, in addition, I will keep a tab which will collect all of these updates for easy reference.

Please let me know what you think of this new component of the site, I hope you find it useful!


Title Release Date   Weekend   Total

1 Marrying the Mafia IV 7/9/2011 601,363 806,376

2 Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon 10/8/2011 405,816 5,709,350
3 Mr. Popper's Penguins (us) 7/9/2011 170,400 193,738
4 Pained 7/9/2011 157,389 248,920

5 Rise of the Planet Apes (us) 17/8/2011 125,817 2,401,266
6 Champ 7/9/2011 113,622 161,549
7 Hindsight 31/8/2011 80,855 539,597

8 Columbiana (us) 31/8/2011 68,452 416,033

9 Final Destination 5 (us) 8/9/2011 65,119 87,176

10 Seafood (us) 8/9/2011 42,065 43,307

- Blind 10/8/2011 41,172 2,241,164
- Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild 27/7/2011 37,858 1,057,027
- The Day He Arrives 8/9/2011 8,017 10,964






















After a strong start with last week's previews, the latest installment of the immensely popular Marrying the Mafia franchise unseated Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon, which has dominated at the top of the charts for four consecutive weekends. With just over 600,000 admissions over the weekend, Marrying the Mafia IV: Family Ordeal is poised to do solid business through the rest of September unless it succumbs to a strong case of sequelitis. The last entry in the series wound up with over 2.5 million ticket sales.

Arrow continues to do very well having added another 400,000 tickets to its haul this weekend (down just over 10%) which now stands at over 5.7 million. The question now is whether it can unseat Sunny as the best-selling Korean film of the year and Transformers 3 at the top of the yearly chart.

Song Kang-ho's latest Hindsight has crumbled after its so-so opening with a take of 80,000, down over 70%. It is unlikely to hit the  million mark at this point, surprising given the star's stellar pedigree.

Pained, which teams heartthrob Kwon Sang-woo with action director Kwak Kyung-taek had a modest opening with nearly 160,000 tickets sold. Reviews have been strong so this may pick up in coming weeks after positive word of mouth sets in.

Champ, the third platform Korean release of the week, starring Cha Tae-hyeon also had a light opening with just over 110,000 tickets sold. I just hope that this horse-themed sports drama is better than last year's woeful Grand Prix, which floundered at the box office.

Just outside of the top ten, Blind and Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild, nearing the end of their runs, added 41,000 and 37,000 respectively to their tallies to bring their cumulative grosses to 2.24 and 2.05 million.

Hong Sang-soo's latest, The Day He Arrives opened to 8,000 admissions despite positive buzz and a successful festival run which began at Cannes earlier this year. Sadly, this is roughly comparable to his previous films.


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.