Another big weekend for D-WAR, as Shim Hyung-rae’s monster movie topped the 5-million admissions mark with ease. And that is just for the 94% of the nationwide box office that KOBIS tracks. In fact, as of the Monday, D-WAR is now over 5.71 million admissions according to Showbox (that’s about $39 million).
MAY 18 is also chugging along, quite respectably, as it too is nearing 5 million admissions. (UPDATE: CJ Entertainment just said that MAY 18 topped 5 million on Monday).
Marvel Comic’s latest superhero film, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, had a more modest debut, with just 336,429 admissions.
With RETURN in fourth, that gives Korean movies three of the top four spots… just like old times. Unfortunately, 280,000 admissions is not exactly stellar.
| This Week | Title…………………………………….. | Release Date | Screens Nationwide | Weekend Attendance | Total Attendance |
| 1. | D-War (Korean) | 8.1 | 621 | 1,143,676 | 5,062,142 |
| 2. | May 18 (Hwaryeohan Hyuga – Korean) | 7.26 | 524 | 596,673 | 4,446,397 |
| 3. | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 8.09 | 399 | 227,690 | 336,429 |
| 4. | Return (Riteon – Korean) | 8.09 | 292 | 189,284 | 284,575 |
| 5. | Ratatouille | 7.26 | 152 | 84,476 | 884,173 |
| 6. | Surf’s Up | 8.09 | 208 | 83,038 | 100,739 |
| 7. | Epitaph (Gidam – Korean) | 8.01 | 220 | 82,005 | 497,642 |
| 8. | Die Hard 4.0 | 7.17 | 202 | 65,356 | 3,129,894 |
| 9. | Transformers | 6.28 | 66 | 21,360 | 7,344,111 |
| 10. | 1408 | 8.02 | 84 | 14,335 | 234,860 |
(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 94% of nationwide box office)
Personally, I am more interested in the movies coming out this week, such as STARDUST and ZODIAC. But I fear they will both get pummeled fairly badly by MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY. But who knows? Maybe Michelle Pfeiffer has the star power to give STARDUST a nice boost.
I thought the June Japan release of Zodiac was late, but I see that Korea is just getting it now (the DVD came out in late July in the US).
Warner Brothers gave it a lot of lead time here since the case is not well known. It didn’t end up making any money, but it’s a phenomenal movie! Highly recommended.
jg