Korea Box Office: ‘Man Standing Next’ Dominates Holiday Weekend With $25 Million Haul

By Sonia Kil

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Locally-made political drama, “The Man Standing Next” dominated the four-day Lunar New Year holiday weekend box office in South Korea. Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 22), the Showbox release earned $24.5 million from 3.23 million admissions over its opening six days. It accounted for more than 53% of the total holiday weekend box office.

Set 40 days before former South Korean President Park Chung-hee’s assassination in 1979, the Lee Byung-hun-starring film revolves around the relationships and conflicts among second-in-command characters who were at the peak of the power struggle.

Opening on the same day, Lotte’s “Hitman: Agent Jun” and Megabox’s “Mr. Zoo: The Missing VIP” landed in second and third, respectively. “Agent Jun” earned $11.2 million from 1.47 million admissions between Wednesday and Monday, while “Missing VIP” earned $3.53 million over the same period.

Disney’s “Spies in Disguise” also opened on Wednesday and landed in fourth place. The animation starring Will Smith and Tom Holland as voice actors earned $2.3 million over opening six days.

South Korean comedy “Secret Zoo” slipped to fifth from the previous weekend’s top place. The Acemaker Movieworks release earned $1.24 million over the weekend for a total of $8.35 million after two weekends on release.

“Dolittle” slipped to sixth from the previous weekend’s third spot. The UPI release earned $422,000 between Friday and Monday for a total of $11.4 million after three weekends.