Korea Box Office: ‘Secret Zoo’ Beats ‘Dolittle’ and ‘Bad Boys’ for Weekend Win

By Sonia Kil

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 15), Korean-made comedy “Secret Zoo” landed on top of the South Korean . The Son Jae-gon (“My Scary Girl”) film earned $5.95 million from 813,000 admissions over its opening five days, including $4.3 million earned over the weekend. That was enough for a 38% share of the country’s total weekend box office. Distributed by Acemaker Movieworks, “Secret Zoo” sees the story of a couple who try to save a zoo from being shut down.

Another Wednesday opener, “Bad Boys for Life” debuted in second. The Sony release earned $3.15 million from 403,000 admissions between Wednesday and Sunday, including $2.33 million earned over the weekend, and accounted for 21% of total weekend box office.

“Dolittle,” which had opened on top the previous week, slipped to third place. The UPI release earned $1.99 million from 271,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday for a total of $10.5 million after two weekends.

Korean volcano disaster flick, “Ashfall” took fourth place, adding $739,000 between Friday and Sunday to extend its five-weekend total to $59.8 million.

Incurring a sharp week-on-week drop of 82% in its second week, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” fell to fifth spot. The Walt Disney release earned $386,000 over the weekend for a total of $3.89 million after two weekends on release. In sixth spot, Lotte Cultureworks’ costume drama “Forbidden Dream” earned $261,000 between Friday and Sunday, and extended its four-weekend total to $14.1 million.

Opening on Thursday, French historical drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” opened in seventh place. “Portrait” earned $250,000 over four days.