Korea Box Office: ‘Night Owl’ Holds Top Spot Ahead of ‘Men of Plastic’
Period thriller “The Night Owl” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office for a second weekend. It delivered a strong week-to-week performance that saw off competition from a volley of new release titles and lifted the overall market.
The locally-made “Owl” earned $4.35 million between Friday and Sunday, only an 11% reduction compared with its opening weekend, according to data from Kobis, the data service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Its market share stayed strong at 46%. After 12 days on release the film has accumulated $13.4 million.
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Korean-American action star Don Lee (aka Ma Dong Seok) was unable to give his latest film the same level of box office beef as his “Roundup” action titles. The new release Lee-starring comedy drama “Men of Plastic” scored $1.69 million over three days, or an 18% market share. Over the five days since its Wednesday opening the film accumulated $2.67 million.
Japanese animation hit “One Piece Film Red” was another new release. It opened on Wednesday, taking $566,000 over the weekend and $991,000 over five days.
Korean-made period drama “A Birth” took third place with $526,000 over the weekend and $805,000 over its opening five days. (Local charts which use a ranking by ticket sales numbers show “A Birth” in third place and “One Piece” in fifth.)
The latest “Pororo” Korean-made animation film released on Thursday and took $515,000 over the weekend, and $545,000 over four days.
A fifth new release, concert movie “NCT Dream The Movie: In A Dream” took $340,000 over the weekend and $825,000 over its opening five days (but showed in ninth place by ticket numbers) while another, Japan’s “Even if This Love Disappears From the World Tonight” took $302,000 and $417,000 over five days.
Taken together, the strong hold by “Owl” and the competitive array of new releases, lifted the nationwide box office by 9% compared with the weekend earlier. The total reached $9.46 million, compared with $8.66 million in the previous exercise.
It is unclear whether the large number of new releases represents a newfound confidence in the theatrical marketplace or a rush by distributors to get a piece of the action before “Avatar 2” takes over the theatrical landscape next week.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” languished in eight place with $274,000 over the latest weekend. After nearly four weeks in theaters, it has accumulated $16.9 million.
Korean romance “Ditto” fell to tenth place with $124,000 in its third weekend. That gives it a $3.62 million cumulative after nearly three weeks.
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