Korean Box Office Update (10/28-10/30, 2011)

Weekend of October 28-30, 2011:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Punch	10/20/11	594,125	1,510,522
2	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	355,383	2,085,158
3	In Time (us)	10/27/11	188,317	220,966
4	Always	10/20/11	173,033	735,159
5	The Client	9/29/11	39,924	2,367,018
6	Friends with Benefits (us)	10/27/11	29,920	46,366
7	The Three Musketeers (uk)	10/12/11	28,755	644,117
8	Silenced	9/22/11	27,994	4,640,739
9	A Reason To Live	10/27/11	27,424	39,162
10	The Tree of Life (us)	10/27/11	19,205	24,663
-	Teacher and the Devils	10/27/11	3,012	6,078
-	You Pet	11/10/11	2,305	2,305
-	HIT	10/13/11	1,538	109,167
-	Couples	11/2/11	1,456	7,994

Another healthy weekend at the box office, although with little discernible difference from last week's.  Admissions totalled 1.53 million, yet another increase over last year.  The market share held steady at 56% which was below last year's weekend (70%) when The Unjust opened.

Punch remained on top after a strong start, not only that but ut managed to increase by nearly 20% in its sophomore frame for a 594,125 three-day and 1,510,522 total.  This will certainly be Kim Yun-seok's fifth straight feature to top 2 million, a remarkable feat.  The question is how far can it go in the coming weeks, word of mouth seems to be strong so I'm betting it will cross 3 million before long.

Real Steel declined a modest 30% to 355,383 and managed to cross 2 million in the process.  A strong performance for a film that has underwhelmed in its homeland.  Justin Timberlake seems to be flavor of the week as his romcom Friends With Benefits, which opened months ago in the west, and his current In Time both opened to middling figures, 29,920 and 188,317 respectively.  Friends With Benefits seemed to fare particularly badly but I don't think romcoms play well in Korea since the homegrown product in that department is so strong.

Always lost half its audience after a midlevel start and wound up with 173,033.  At this point it may or may not cross the 1 million mark.  The Client, which had played strong throughout the month took a big tumble as it prepares to exit theaters. It added 39,924 to an impressive 2,367,018 total.  Silenced performed similarly as it dropped to 27,994 for what will likely to its last weekend in the top 10.  It has sold 4,640,739 tickets to date and sits at number 4 on the yearly chart.

Song Hye-kyo's new movie, A Reason to Live, which premiered at Busan, got off to a very disappointing start with 27,424 admissions.  This will likely be its one and only week in the top 10.

Next week, the anticipated marital arts Thai-Korean co-production The Kick will make its bow in theaters.


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-up. Reviews 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.

Weekly Review Round-up (10/22-10/28, 2011)

A lot of reviews for The Yellow Sea this week, as it was recently released in the UK & Ireland.  Also found out about a new blog with lots of Korean film reviews, Otherwhere.

Enjoy!

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Punch

(Seongyong's Private Place, October 22, 2011)

The Kick

(Film Business Asia, October 27, 2011)

RECENT RELEASES

Ghastly

(Modern Korean Cinema, October 26, 2011)

Haunters

(The Korea Blog, October 24, 2011)

King of Pigs

(Variety, October 24, 2011 - Subscription required)

Late Blossom

(hancinema.net, October 22, 2011)

(Modern Korean Cinema, October 24, 2011)

Poongsan

(Beyond Hollywood, October 19, 2011)

Stateless Things

(Otherwhere, October 16, 2011)

Sunny

(yam, October 23, 2011)

The Front Line

(Variety, October 23, 2011)

The Unjust

(amplify, October 24, 2011)

The Yellow Sea

(Cine Vue, October 21, 2011)

(eatsleeplivefilm.com, October 21, 2011)

(herald.ie, October 21, 2011)

(London Evening Standard, October 21, 2011)

(msn entertainment, October 26, 2011)

(The Film Pilgrim, October 24, 2011)

(The Guardian, October 23, 2011)

(The Irish Times, October 21, 2011)

(Total Film, October 25, 2011)

(Trash Cinema Club, October 22, 2011)

White: The Curse of the Melody

(hancinema.net, October 20, 2011)

PAST FILMS

A Bloody Aria, 2006

(cineawesome!, October 22, 2011)

Jenny, Juno, 2005

(Otherwhere, October 22, 2011)

The Sword With No Name, 2009

(The Fandom Post, October 21, 2011)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews 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.

Korean Box Office Update (10/21-10/23, 2011)

Weekend of October 21-23, 2011:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Punch	10/20/11	461,290	584,528
2	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	453,322	1,485,699
3	Always	10/20/11	268,422	372,552
4	The Client	9/29/11	115,135	2,256,985
5	The Three Musketeers (uk)	10/12/11	99,595	564,313
6	Silenced	9/22/11	80,528	4,544,968
7	Paranormal Activity 3 (us)	10/20/11	49,321	56,590
8	Hit	10/13/11	14,372	84,142
9	Major: Yujo No Winning Shot (jp)	10/20/11	7,085	8,251
10	War of the Arrows Director's Cut		5,256	6,290
-	Couples	11/3/11	4,430	6,126
-	War of the Arrows	8/10/11	3,810	7,451,344
-	Fighting Spirit	10/6/11	2,558	209,104
-	Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild	7/27/11	1,359	2,197,866

A Korean film reclaimed the top spot this weekend, but only by a very slim margin.  Once again business gained over last year's comparable frame, going up 50% to 1.59 million admissions.  The Korean market share also saw a healthy increase over last weekend, topping 60%, last year it was 50%.

The number one movie was Punch, which after getting good notices at the Busan International Film Festival and performing well in previews last weekend, opened to a solid 461,290.  Word of mouth will likely be strong, which means it could play well through November.  In recent years, Kim Yun-seok has turned into a massive force at the box office.  One of the few bankable stars remaining in Korea, his most recent features have all gone way past 2 million viewers: The Yellow Sea (2.42 million), Woochi (6.1 million), Running Turtle (3.05 million), and The Chaser (5.07 million). If Punch continues this trend, which it likely will, his streak is not likely to an end any time soon with the release of the much anticipated The Thieves just around the corner.

Coming a very close second this weekend was Real Steel in its sophomore frame with 453,322, down only 25%.  As around the rest of the world, the film seems to be playing well with families.  The Three Musketeers fell 64% for 99,595, it will likely fall far down the chart next weekend.  The only major Hollywood release was Paranormal Activity 3, which despite posting a franchise best opening in the US, opened to a small 49,321, about 30% of what the previous installment.  Major: Yujo No Winning Shot from Japan also opened low on the chart with 7,085.

Always seemed poised for a decent opening considering all the attention it received as BIFF's opening gala presentation and its promising previews last weekend but the negative buzz and critical savaging of the picture as already caught up to it.  It opened to a disappointing 268,422 and will likely exit the Top 10 swiftly.

The Client, which had been holding on to the number 2 spot for three weeks fell to number 4 with a 60% drop.  Its weekend haul of 115, 135 was enough for it clinch the last spot in the yearly top 10.  It may still have enough left in the tank to crawl up two more rungs and unseat Marrying the Mafia IV.

Silenced (aka The Crucible) took another big fall this weekend (67%) as the media attention it had been receiving has died down, it added 80, 528 to its total.  I wonder whether it could still move up to number 3 for the year by topping Detective K's total.

Hit came in at number 8 with 14,372 after seeing two thirds of its theater count slashed. Rounding out the top 10 was the director's cut of War of the Arrows which opened in select locations to 5,256.  The new cut may play wider depending on its performance but I think it is more likely to tour around different locations.


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-up. Reviews 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.

Korean Box Office Update (10/14-10/16, 2011)

Weekend of October 14-16, 2011:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	590,043	789,230
2	The Client	9/29/11	282,910	2,013,874
3	The Three Musketeers (uk)	10/12/11	258,299	376,220
4	Silenced	9/22/11	235,977	4,331,176
5	Punch	10/20/11	56,116	65,408
6	Always	10/20/11	45,687	46,606
7	Fighting Spirit	10/6/11	29,617	192,831
8	Hit	10/13/11	21,284	29,041
9	War of the Arrows	8/10/11	19,810	7,430,360
10	Countdown	9/29/11	10,324	461,704
-	Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild	27/7/11	1,300	2,195,700
-	The Day He Arrives	8/9/11	510	42,983
-	Ordinary Days	29/9/11	98	1,517
-	Scars	13/10/11	81	132

After 11 weekends with a Korean release claiming the top spot at the box office, this week's usurper is Real Steel, Hollywood's new blockbuster which played well in previews last week.  This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as there was no major Korean release this week and also given the fact that the year's other robot themed tentpole release is Korea's top grosser of the year (Transformers 3 with 7,790,426).

The Client clung to the number two spot for its third straight week with a 282,910 take.  This represents a drop slightly over 40% and puts into doubt whether it can join the 3 million club as it has only just cracked the two million mark.

Silenced (aka The Crucible) took another big tumble (52%) as its mass media exposure begins to fade.  It took 235,977 this weekend and dropped three places.  It had already crossed the four million mark before the weekend but its chances of cracking five look precarious, especially if it keeps suffering such steep falls.

Punch and Always were next at 56,116 and 45,687 respectively as they played in previews.  These are both strong figures for the recent Busan Film Fest features.  They open wide next week and will likely battle it out for first place.  Kim Sang-jin's Fighting Spirit took a big 70% dive after its lackluster opening.  It added 29,617 for a 192,831 total, a disappointing result and this may drop out of the top 10 as early as next week.

Hit, a new film starring Han Jae-suk also had a limited opening this past weekend but its 21,284 admissions does not bode well for its chances.  War of the Arrows added 19,810 admissions to its massive total which now stands at 7,430,360.  Finally Countdown crumbled again with 10,324 tickets sold.

This weekend's take amounted to 1.58 million tickets, a healthy increase over both last weekend (22.5%) and last year's comparable frame (50%).  The bad news is that that increase benefited a major Hollywood release.  Despite having 8 of the top 10 spots, this weekend's Korean market share was only 45%, down a little from last years's 55% but a lot from the last two weekend's 87% and 81%.  Somewhat ironic given that Busan just wrapped up. However the festival's releases will soon be inundating theaters and will likely post strong numbers.


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-up. Reviews 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.