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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2013.12.06 ~ 2013.12.08

Richard Curtis's romantic comedy "About Time" and James Wan's supernatural horror "Insidious: Chapter 2" kept the local flicks at bay with a one-two finish for the away team. "About Time" claimed 477,267 (29.5%) admissions over 568 screens to secure the top spot while Wan's sequel attracted 225,734 (13.2%) filmgoers to his highly profitable horror franchise. Last week's number one, Kim Hyun-seok's "11 AM", slipped two places in light of the above new entries, and walked away with just 158,978 (9.4%) stubs in week two. Similarly, Hong Ji-young "Marriage Blue", _Kwak_Gyeong-taek's "Friends 2", and Lee Deok-hee-I's debut feature "Tumbleweed" all fell accordingly as Korea's final quarter continued to flat line after its stunning and recording-breaking Autumn figures.

Foreign love and alien ghouls were the choice pleasures for Korean audiences as 42.8% of the crowd gave their hard-earned won to the top two U.K. and U.S. imports. "Insidious: Chapter 2", like the original, has proven a plump cash cow for Wan and has already grossed $155M from a budget of just $5M. Korean audiences have bitten as well with the film's opening scare scoring it $1.8M, while "About Time" banked a heart-felt $4M of its own. Last week "11 AM" was top with 377,160 - a ticket tally that dropped sharply here (its second week out) to just 158,978. That advances the sci-fi flick now to 784,350 admissions and so it will have to soldier on if it hopes to breach the million admissions mark.

Sony Pictures Animation's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" managed to rise in the charts, climbing from last weekend's number six (194,587) to number four (153,167) despite the lower haul. The computer-generated sci-fi has already grossed $213M worldwide, and its efforts in Korean have allowed it to pocket $4.5M since it was released late last month. Meanwhile, Hong Ji-young's omnibus drama "Marriage Blue" cleared the million mark at settled for fifth, adding 128,680 subs to bring its total tally now to 1,097,786 ($7.2M). The aged-action thriller "Escape Plan" (starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger) followed in sixth with a flaccid 112,355 (6.7%), while "Catching Fire" continued to tumble towards the wrong end of the chart with 98,067 (5.8%). "Catching Fire" - based on the second novel in Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games" trilogy - has filled its worldwide coffers with $673M thus far, but Korean audiences have been largely unimpressed, contributing just $6.9M to blockbusters recording-breaking bottom line.

_Kwak_Gyeong-taek's "Friends 2" continued its steep nosedive. Two week's ago the film was one number (472,863), last week it was fifth (197,192), and now (its fourth week) saw Kwak's sequel settle for eighth (78,392 with just 4.9%). The film is the sequel to Kwak's 2001 blockbuster "Friend" (8.2 million admissions) and has thus far accumulated 2.9 million admissions ($20.3M) in the shadow of its bigger and better brother. The atypical drama "Tumbleweed" from debutant Lee Deok-hee-I was looking good last week (fourth with 201,909), but week two proved a tougher bout as it fell to ninth with just 59,322 (3.7%). "Tumbleweed" has now collected 404,919 admissions ($2.6M) since its released late last month. Lastly it was the Japanese animation "Oshin" which scored the favour of 22,577 Korean filmgoers to round out Korea's top ten.

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2013.12.06 - 2013.12.08 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "About Time"   477 267 569 883
2 "Insidious: Chapter 2"   225 734 273 148
3 "11 AM" (열한시) 2013/11/28 158 978 784 350
4 "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2"   153 167 664 905
5 "Marriage Blue" (결혼 전야) 2013/11/21 128 680 1 097 786
6 "Escape Plan"   112 355 133 477
7 "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"   98 067 1 050 803
8 "Friends 2" (친구2) 2013/11/14 78 392 2 920 249
9 "Tumbleweed" (창수) 2013/11/28 59 322 404 919
10 "Oshin (おしん)"   22 577 58 485
Korean movies only  
  "Way Back Home" (집으로 가는 길) 2013/12/12 4 441 7 437
  "Lazy Hitchhikers' Tour de Europe" (잉여들의 히치하이킹) 2013/11/28 2 838 9 861
  "The Five" (더 파이브 ) 2013/11/14 2 204 730 087
  "The Attorney" (변호인) 2013/12/19 2 143 6 813
  "Fancy Walk" (화려한 외출) 2013/12/05 1 904 3 697
  "Black Gospel" (블랙가스펠) 2013/11/14 1 512 46 475
  "Hello Orchestra" (안녕?! 오케스트라) 2013/11/28 1 495 9 875
  "If You Were Me 6" (어떤 시선) 2013/10/24 1 448 27 714
  "Red Vacance Black Wedding 2" (붉은 바캉스 검은 웨딩 2) 2013/11/28 1 440 3 840
  "The Fake" (사이비) 2013/11/21 1 430 20 780

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

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