Korea Box Office: Local Holiday Tentpoles Continue Domination

By Sonia Kil

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Korean tentpoles which dominated the Chuseok week, continued to rule the South Korean over the latest weekend.

Costume action drama “The Great Battle” remained on top, accounting for 43% of the weekend total. The Next Entertainment World release earned $6.43 million between Friday and Sunday for a total of $35 million from 4.53 million admissions after two weekends on release.

CJ Entertainment’s “The Negotiation” climbed to second spot from the previous week’s third. The crime drama earned $2.99 million, for a two-weekend total of $13.7 million. Megabox’s “Fengshui” slipped to third from second, with a week-on-week drop of 58%. The costume drama earned $1.9 million for a total of $15.3 million after two weekends.

Korean independent release, “The Soul-mate” landed in fourth. Opening on Wednesday, the comedy earned $2.81 million over five days. Starring Don Lee (“Train to Busan”), “Soul-mate” revolves around a judo instructor who becomes haunted by a dead police officer’s soul. The top four films together accounted for 85% of the weekend total.

Horror film, “The Nun” slipped to fifth place from the previous week’s fourth, incurring a week-on-week drop of 68%. The Warner Bros. title earned $947,000 for a total of $7.55 million after two weekends. Sony’s “Searching” also dropped to sixth. The John Cho-starring drama earned $471,000 to extend its total to $22.5 million after five weekends.