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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.02.21 ~ 2014.02.23

Ice gives way to fire as "Pompeii" overthrows "Frozen" at the top…

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Disney's Oscar contender "Frozen" was finally dislodged at the top of pile in a hotly contested tussle at the top. This past weekend saw Paul W. S. Anderson's disaster epic "Pompeii" entered in first position (542,060-21.3%), a film that has been struggling globally after poor reviews stunted its hopes of reaching the $100M it took to produce. Despite its unimpressive stats thus far, Anderson's indulgent 3D flick only narrowly outplayed Kim Kwang-sik-I's newly released "Tabloid Truth" (440,829-20%). "Tabloid Truth" is already looking good to overtake Kim's pervious effort with "My Dear Desperado", a romantic comedy that claimed nearly 700K stubs back in 2010.

"Tabloid Truth" (formerly know as "Advertisement: Dangerous Rumours") is a crime drama starring Kim Kang-woo, Jung Jin-young, Ko Chang-seok, and Park Sung-woong, and enjoyed strong support in its opening weekend across 558 screens. The film tells the story of Woo-gon (Kim Kang-woo) a talent agency manager who, after assisting a rising star in getting a movie role, gets fired for his efforts and soon finds himself amidst a high-profile political sex scandal. Kim's drama was followed by last week's number two "Miss Granny" (383,995-17.1%), a local comedy drama that has performed extremely well since its release late last month. "Miss Granny", director Hwang Dong-hyuk's third film after "Silenced" and "My Father", managed to dethrone "Frozen" over the Lunar New Year holiday and has since advanced its total tally to 7.6 million.

Although "Miss Granny" walked away from the weekend with the most admissions in its pocket, it was Disney's "Frozen" who bank the most bucks due to its high-priced 3D price tag. "Frozen", the most successful animation released in Korea, added 377,574 (18.5%) to advance its total tally to 9.7 million--a phenomenal haul that was amassed over its six weeks in the chart. The modern remake of "Robocop" started well last week where it claimed more than 600K admissions, but took a dive in week two here as it found itself in fifth with just 126,717 (5.7%) to its name.

Similarly Kwon Chil-in's "Venus Talk" (previously known as "The Law of Pleasure") slipped to sixth (96,198-4.5%) after sitting pretty in fourth last weekend. This past weekend's crowds means that "Venus Talks" moves to 609,832 admissions ($4.2M) since its release on the 13th of this month. The Oscar-nominated "American Hustle" trailed it with 67,528 (3.2%) of its own, a rather low haul given that it's been nominated in ten categories including "Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Kim Jin-moo's "Apostle" (60,904-2.7%) and Kim Tae-yoon's "Another Family" (32,700-1.4%) followed in eighth and ninth respectfully, while the Japanese animation "Detective Conan: The Private Eye's Requiem" rounded out the weekend by claiming 27,314 (1%).

 

What's coming out next week in Korea?: [HanCinema's Film News] New Korean Films Inbound...

Last weekend's report: [HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.01.14 ~ 2014.01.16

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2014.02.21 - 2014.02.23 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Pompeii"   462 669 542 060
2 "Tabloid Truth" (찌라시 : 위험한 소문) 2014/02/20 440 829 536 761
3 "Miss Granny" (수상한 그녀) 2014/01/23 383 995 7 692 397
4 "Frozen"   377 574 9 617 423
5 "RoboCop"   126 717 897 317
6 "Venus Talk" (관능의 법칙) 2014/02/13 96 198 609 832
7 "American Hustle"   67 528 85 324
8 "Apostle" (신이 보낸 사람) 2014/02/13 60 904 274 210
9 "Another Family" (또 하나의 약속) 2014/02/06 32 700 442 793
10 "Detective Conan: The Private Eyes' Requiem" (名探偵コナン 探偵たちの鎮魂歌)   27 314 154 753
Korean movies only  
  "The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow" (우리별 일호와 얼룩소) 2014/02/20 14 420 23 314
  "When A Man Loves A Woman" (남자가 사랑할 때) 2014/01/22 7 809 1 968 279
  "The Attorney" (변호인) 2013/12/19 2 427 11 366 740
  "The Nut Job" (넛잡: 땅콩 도둑들)   1 888 473 082
  "House With A Good View - Voyeuristic Desire" (전망 좋은 하우스 - 관음적 욕망) 2013/11/20 560 860
  "Secret Tutor" (비밀과외) 2014/02/13 360 1 590
  "Black Gospel" (블랙가스펠) 2013/11/14 270 53 181
  "Mother - 2009" (마더) 2009/05/28 244 2 979 551
  "Thread of Lies" (우아한 거짓말) 2014/03/13 238 346
  "A Country Girl" (촌색씨, 1958) - Re-release   153 153

 

 

- C.J. Wheeler (chriscjw@gmail.com@KoreaOnTheCouch)

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