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[HanCinema's Film Review] Korean Weekend Box Office 2012.09.28 ~ 2012.09.30

HanCinema's Korean Box Office Review 

(2012.09.28~ 2012.09.30)

The last weekend of September has been kind to Choo Chang-min's "Masquerade". Choo's historical drama added 1,379,147 (47.7%) to its cause, making this the third week running the film has broken the million admissions mark and claimed gold. In addition to its consistent run through the month of September, "Masquerade" has now surpassed "The Grand Heist" and "Nameless Gangster" as the second highest grossing Korean film of 2012, just behind the recording-breaking "The Thieves", which itself is still sitting pretty with almost 13,000,000 tickets sold!

"Taken 2", starring Liam Neeson, has entered the charts in second place, earning 776,596 admissions during its opening weekend. This action crime drama is directed by Olivier Megaton and the positive reception it is receiving from Korean audiences mirrors that among the rest of international film-going community. At three is Woo Min-ho's "Spy" which managed to outplay the new "Resident Evil" film latest weekend, but was outdone here by Mr. Neeson's new film. "Spy" claimed 274,936 (9.3%) and has amassed a total of 840,427 admissions since its release in Korean cinemas on the 20th. "Brave" is a new animation from the much loved Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Studios, and I am sure they know all too well that digital animations go down extremely smoothly in Korea. However "Brave" made a fairly modest 223,901 admissions splash and found itself far short of challenging any of its more successful counterparts.

The adult comedy "Ted" is also proving to be a fan favourite; surprising audiences with its charm, humor and subversive portrayal of our childhood memories in the form of one troublesome teddy bear called Ted. "Ted" claimed just 66,312 and was followed in the charts by a new Korean film in the form of Sin Jeong-won's "Ghost Sweepers". Sin's last film was back in 2008 ("Chaw") and he's been busy as he also has an interesting sounding film "The Dog" that is set to be released later this year. Two international animations following, first was the Japanese favourite "The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki" which earned 28,266 admissions and fell just one place from last weekend.

The second was the Spanish film "Tad: The Lost Explorer" by Enrique Gato. "Tad" only had some 20,515 go its way, but that was enough to undo Kim Ki-duk's "Pieta" which currently sits at number nine with 18,359. Despite representing Korea's international hopes for critical acclaim abroad, "Pieta" has not managed to impress the Korean masses as its total admissions count creeps towards 600,000. Lastly, the action sci-fi film "Resident Evil 5" takes a bit hit, falling from last week's number three to almost being ejected from the top ten entirely. "Resident Evil 5" is based off the popular series of video games by the Japanese publisher Capcom and is apparently struggling to convince fans and newcomers that a fifth film was even necessary.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2012.09.28 - 2012.09.30 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Masquerade" (광해, 왕이 된 남자) 2012/09/13 1 379 343 5 234 402
2 "Taken 2"   776 803 962 310
3 "Spy" (간첩) 2012/09/20 274 994 840 485
4 "Brave"   208 613 223 901
5 "Ted"   66 323 83 147
6 "Ghost Sweepers" (점쟁이들) 2012/10/03 48 271 53 628
7 "The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki (おおかみこどもの雨と雪, 2012)"   28 266 217 147
8 "Tad:The Lost Explorer"   20 515 127 870
9 "Pieta" (피에타) 2012/09/06 18 359 570 943
10 "Resident Evil 5"   10 871 550 482
Korean movies only  
  "The Thieves" (도둑들) 2012/07/25 10 812 12 960 253
  "The Traffickers" (공모자들 ) 2012/08/29 3 847 1 640 252
  "Han Kyung-jik" (한경직) 2012/09/13 1 563 9 669
  "The Grand Heist" (바람과 함께 사라지다) 2012/08/08 948 4 908 685
  "Under An Umbrella (가을비 우산속에 , 1979)"   128 960
  "Too Old Hiphop Kid" (투 올드 힙합 키드) 2012/09/13 74 1 701
  "Fighting! Family" (화이팅 패밀리) 2012/09/13 58 1 179
  "Jinsuk and Me" (깔깔깔 희망버스) 2012/09/27 42 89
  "The Passion of a Man Called Choe Che-u (동학, 수운 최제우)"   33 208
  "2 Doors" (두 개의 문) 2012/06/21 27 72 636

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