Korea Box Office: ‘Default’ Wins Again, ‘Nutcracker,’ ‘Mortal Engines’ Fail to Excite

By Sonia Kil

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Korean-made financial drama, “Default” remained on top of the South Korean for the second consecutive weekend. The CJ Entertainment release earned $4.95 million from 631,200 admissions between Friday and Sunday for a total of $19.9 million after two weekends on release. “Bohemian Rhapsody” also remained in second. The Fox release earned $4.79 million to extend its total $54.5 million from 7.08 million admissions after six weekends.

Opening on Wednesday (Dec. 5), Korean thriller, “Door Lock” debuted in third. The Megabox release earned $6.13 million over five days, including $4.38 million over the weekend. Starring Kong Hyo-jin (“A Single Rider”), the film is the story of a woman who finds signs of a stranger entering her house, where she lives by herself. The top three films accounted for a total of 74% of the total weekend box office.

Disney’s Thursday opener, “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” debuted in fourth. It earned $1.72 million in four days. “Mortal Engines” and “Running Man,” two other newcomers that opened on Wednesday, took fifth and sixth places, respectively. UPI’s “” earned $1.61 million, while Next Entertainment World-distributed local animated feature “Running Man” earned some $834,000.

“Intimate Strangers” took seventh place. The Lotte Cultureworks comedy added $276,000 and extended its six-weekend total to $38.8 million. Incurring a painful week-on-week drop of 85%, Showbox’s

“Unstoppable” slipped to eighth place from the previous weekend’s third. It earned $253,000 for a total of $11.6 million after three weekends.