[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2017.10.06 - 2017.10.08
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"The Fortress" narrowly outplays "The Outlaws" over Chuseok...
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk's Joseon-era drama "The Fortress" (based on Kim Hoon's novel) narrowly came out ahead of Kang Yoon-Sung's crime thriller "The Outlaws" during Korea's biggest national holiday, Chuseok. Both films were released on Oct. 3 and pooled from 1,226 and 1,314 screens respectively, and together they captured 60.74% of the sales.
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"The Fortress" stars Lee Byung-hun, Kim Yun-seok and Park Hae-il and takes place in 1636 when King Injo spent 47 days in Namham Mountain Fortress to evade the Qing invaders. The film, Hwang's fourth ("My Father", "Silenced", and "Miss Granny"), claimed 1.3 million admissions, or $9.7 million (32.99%), despite having around a hundred screens less than its closest competitor.
Veteran action star Ma Dong-seok shares the screen with the versatile Yoon Kye-sang in Kang Yoon-Sung's debut film, "The Outlaws". The 1.1 million admissions ($8.2 million) it earned constituted 27.75% of the sales. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Ma ("The Neighbor", "Nameless Gangster", "The Unjust", "Train to Busan") said that he hopes the film "thrills audiences and helps them relieve some stress".
Last weekend's number one, the eccentric spy comedy "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" by director Matthew Vaughn, was unceremoniously bumped to third in the wake of Hwang and Kang's recent entries. "Kingsman" added 716,387 admissions (18.54%) from 909 screens, down from 1,677, which moves its bottom line in Korea now to $31.8 million (the eighth highest-grossing film of the year); worldwide, Vaughn's sequel to the popular 2014 original has grossed $253.6 million (the film cost $104 million to produce).
Kim Hyun-seok's "I Can Speak" also fell two places; from 788 screens, Kim's sixth feature claimed 462,939 admissions (10.96%), bringing its total tally to 2.8 million ($19.4 million). Two new animations were up next: "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature" and "Deep" entered the fray with 153,954 (3.4%) and 91,431 (2.08%) admissions respectively, followed by the Japanese anime "Yo-Kai Watch Movie 3". With the 38,257 admissions scored here, the latest "Yo-Kai Watch" movie has grossed $1.2 million (192,094 admissions).
Director Denis Villeneuve's "Blade Runner 2049", the much-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott's classic 1982 sci-fi film, gets officially released in Korea Oct. 12, but the revenue from 155 early screenings (29,330 admissions: 0.75%) was enough to bring it into the top ten. Last weekend "The Lego Ninjago Movie" entered in fifth with 67,100 admissions (2.39%). After having its screen count slashed from a tentative 458 to just 136, the latest Lego movie added just 21,210 stubs (0.46%). The final place went to the American action comedy "The Hitman's Bodyguard" by Patrick Hughes. This is the film's sixth weekend in the top ten; its total gross sits at $12.1 million, $107,678 (20,904 admissions) of which came from this past weekend.
Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2017.10.06 - 2017.10.08 (www.kobis.or.kr)
| # | Films | Release date | Week-end | Total |
| 1 | "The Fortress" (남한산성) | 2017/10/03 | 1 371 794 | 2 997 708 |
| 2 | "The Outlaws" (범죄도시) | 2017/10/03 | 1 128 327 | 1 806 824 |
| 3 | "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" | 716 387 | 4 400 348 | |
| 4 | "I Can Speak" (아이 캔 스피크) | 2017/09/21 | 462 939 | 2 869 103 |
| 5 | "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature" | 153 954 | 249 686 | |
| 6 | "Deep" | 91 431 | 170 366 | |
| 7 | "Yo-Kai Watch Movie 3" (映画 妖怪ウォッチ 空飛ぶクジラとダブル世界の大冒険だニャン！) | 38 257 | 192 094 | |
| 8 | "Blade Runner 2049" | 29 330 | 29 736 | |
| 9 | "The Lego Ninjago Movie" | 5 975 | 142 788 | |
| 10 | "The Hitman's Bodyguard" | 5 286 | 1 709 712 | |
| Korean movies only | ||||
| "Suicide Made" (김광석) | 2017/08/30 | 3 710 | 95 266 | |
| "Becoming Who I Was" (다시 태어나도 우리) | 2017/09/27 | 3 471 | 17 352 | |
| "Memoir of a Murderer" (살인자의 기억법) | 2017/09/06 | 2 199 | 15 307 | |
| "The Running Actress" (여배우는 오늘도) | 2017/09/14 | 761 | 2 560 | |
| "A Taxi Driver" (택시 운전사) | 2017/08/02 | 706 | 12 185 396 | |
| "Dancesport Girls" (땐뽀걸즈) | 2017/09/27 | 630 | 2 583 | |
| "The Reservoir Game" (저수지 게임) | 2017/09/07 | 624 | 123 980 | |
| "The Table" (더 테이블) | 2017/08/24 | 408 | 102 618 | |
| "Lost to Shame" (분장) | 2017/09/27 | 310 | 2 288 | |
| "The Last Woman Of Shang" (달기, 1964) - Re-released | 250 | 2 560 | ||
- Christopher Wheeler