Korea Box Office: ‘Money’ Defeats ‘Captain Marvel’

By Sonia Kil

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Korean crime drama “Money” debuted on top of the South Korean , preventing “Captain Marvel” from topping the chart for three consecutive weekends. It is the story of a young stockbroker who dreams of riches but becomes caught in a stock market scam.

Opening on Wednesday, the Showbox release earned $12.0 million from 1.54 million admissions in five days. That included $587,000 from preview screenings. Its Friday-Sunday take ($8.85 million) accounted for 59% of the country’s total weekend box office.

Disney’s “Marvel” slipped to second, incurring a week-on-week drop of 62%. It earned $3.09 million for a total of $41.2 million after three weekends on release.

Two other Wednesday openers, “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage” and “Idol” took landed in third and fourth, respectively. Previously known as “Bad Lieutenant,” “Jo Pil-ho” earned $1.47 million over five days. Directed by Lee Jeong-beom (“Man from Nowhere”,) the latest Korean-language production by Warner Bros. follows a cop who takes bribes, connives corruption and instigates crime as he confronts even more vicious conspiracy.

CGV Arthouse’s thriller “” earned $1.06 million between Wednesday and Sunday. The story involves a politician whose career is thrown into turmoil when his son causes a car accident. Directed by Lee Su-jin (“Han Gong-ju”), it premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.

“Escape Room” slipped to fifth from the previous weekend’s second place, and suffered an 80% drop in receipts. The Sony release earned $515,000 between for a cumulative of $4.28 million. Russian animated feature “Savva” debuted in sixth, earning $154,200 over four days.