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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.12.05 ~ 2014.12.07

Scott's Epic Exodus Grounds "Interstellar"...

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Nolan's "Interstellar" was November in Korea. It dictated terms and elevated itself well above the competition ("Fashion King", "Cart", "Fury", "Big Match"), each week and without fail. So successful was this space odyssey's reign, that its nearest challenger claimed no more than half of its black and bloated bottom-line each weekend.

It's not over yet, but the film has so far absorbed nearly 10 million admissions ($65.2M): a mega-milestone in Korea that currently only a dozen features can boast (all after 2003 starting with "Silmido"). "Snowpiercer" (9.3M), "The Face Reader" (9.1M), and "Iron Man 3" (9M) have all had a recent sniff, and "Interstellar" still needs a further 800K to buy into this elite club.

It would take a complete chronological turnaround to upset this zealous zeitgeist on its way to glory, something equally epic containing a hero, not of some dystopian disaster, but of a mythopoetic past with a familiar message. It was Ridley Scott's cinematic imagining of Moses (Bale) and his earthly Exodus that would eventual stunt Nolan's blasphemous blockbuster (a film Ridley dedicates to Tony, his brother, who left us two years ago).

It was close, but "Exodus: Gods and Kings" came away with the crown with 579K (34.4%) over 865 screens, only 100K more than "Interstellar" (481K - 26.1%). Between these two star-crossed Titans 50% of the box office pie was gobbled and gone, and from third to sixth there also wasn't much in it.

Choi Ho's action flick "Big Match" fell just the one place to third, adding another 188K (10%) and bringing its total tally now to 946K ($6.4M). Close behind with 121K (6.5%) was Brad Pitt's "Fury" (enjoying its third weekend out), who in turn was tantalisingly tailed by Jin Mo-young's documentary "My Love, Don't Cross That River" (120K - 7%).

Jeon Hyeong-joon's comedy "Five Eagle Brothers" (his first in the chair) was released on the fourth and opened its account with 100K (5%) and sixth place. The film (which stars Yoon Sang-hyun, Song Sae-byeok, Lee Ah-i, Hwang Chan-sung, and Kim Ji-min) pooled its score from 346 screens and will no doubt find it tough going from here.

The Japanese animation "Howl's Moving Castle" (based on Diana W. Jones' novel of the same name; a film that had its premiere back in 2004) was re-released and performed solidly in seventh (64K - 3.3%), notably thumping "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" who fell four places to eighth. This penultimate picture has not caught on in Korea, and since its released on the 20th of last month it's scored a sorry 836K ($5.6M).

Lastly, the weekend's top ten was rounded out by "Dive Olly Dive: Happy Little Submarine" (based on the T.V series from Splash Entertainment), which claimed close to 17K, and then the sequel nobody asked for: "Dumb and Dumber To" (16K).

 

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] 2014.11.28 ~ 2014.11.30

 

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2014.12.05 - 2014.12.07 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Exodus: Gods and Kings"   579 442 773 809
2 "Interstellar"   481 138 9 101 637
3 "Big Match" (빅매치) 2014/11/27 187 787 946 141
4 "Fury"   121 257 1 254 956
5 "My Love, Don't Cross That River" (님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오) 2014/11/27 120 491 240 885
6 "Five Eagle Brothers" (덕수리5형제) 2014/12/04 100 343 124 735
7 "Howl's Moving Castle"   64 319 2 506 465
8 "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1"   23 562 835 956
9 "Dive Oily Dive: Happy Little Submarines"   16 709 19 778
10 "Dumb and Dumber To"   16 417 181 147
Korean movies only  
  "GROW: Infinite's Real Youth Life" (GROW: 인피니트의 리얼 청춘 라이프) 2014/12/04 13 032 18 227
  "The Hospice" (목숨) 2014/12/04 7 199 17 764
  "Cart" (카트) 2014/11/13 6 369 797 075
  "Dad for Rent" (아빠를 빌려드립니다) 2014/11/20 3 538 163 095
  "The Follower, Ok Han-heum" (제자, 옥한흠) 2014/10/30 1 492 46 698
  "The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol" (다이빙벨) 2014/10/23 845 44 888
  "My Sister" (울언니) 2014/12/04 764 1 504
  "He Who Loves the World" (그 사람 그 사랑 그 세상) 2014/11/20 723 14 295
  "Set Me Free" (거인) 2014/11/13 534 21 937
  "Glory For Everyone" (누구에게나 찬란한) 2014/11/06 525 17 728

 

- C.J. Wheeler (@WoolgatheristKoreaOnTheCouch)

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