Some strange goings-on with the top-10 this week. When KOBIS published the weekend numbers on Monday morning, they were obviously really low. I AM LEGEND, for example, was listed as doing about half of what its true business was. Turns out that there were some computer problems and a bunch of theaters had not reported their weekend business.
Apparently the Monday KOBIS numbers are always preliminary, and final figures are not confirmed until Tuesday. I did not know that. I hope I have not posted any wrong box office figures here in past weeks.
Anyhow, big weekend for Will Smith’s I AM LEGEND. Kind of funny, considering how no one I know who saw the film liked it. Score one for Warner Bros’ marketing team. LEGEND had $6.5 million, including its early Wednesday opening (true weekend numbers were closer to $5 million).
I was surprised LEGEND outperformed both SEX IS ZERO 2 and THE FIGHT. Was sure at least one of those would be a breakout hit. As it turns out, SEX IS ZERO 2 was the big Korean film over the weekend… a fact I find endlessly distressing. No, I have not seen it yet, but the original SEX IS ZERO was such a miserable film, I am disappointed people went back for more punishment.
THE FIGHT opened only in fourth, which had to have been disappointing to its distributor. It felt like I have seen ads for this film every five minutes on TV here. (SEX IS ZERO 2, on the other hand, was pretty much invisible, at least on the channels I watch).
Kind of cool to see KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE in the top ten, especially since that movie was released a few weeks ago. Are all of Hayao Miyazaki’s old films going to be periodically rereleased in Korean theaters, like Disney’s film used to be when I was growing up? It would be cool is young people had the opportunity to see his films in the theater.
| This Week | Title…………………………………….. | Release Date | Screens Nationwide | Weekend Attendance | Total Attendance |
| 1. | I Am Legend | 12.12 | 486 | 678,619 | 918,396 |
| 2. | Sex Is Zero 2 (Saekjeuk Sigong Sijeun 2 – Korean) | 12.12 | 440 | 439,031 | 584,284 |
| 3. | August Rush | 11.29 | 314 | 239,645 | 1,336,512 |
| 4. | The Fight (Ssaum – Korean) | 12.13 | 396 | 164,750 | 236,328 |
| 5. | Seven Days (Korean) | 11.14 | 243 | 97,629 | 1,932,717 |
| 6. | Lust, Caution | 11.08 | 200 | 69,467 | 1,821,731 |
| 7. | Hairspray | 12.06 | 215 | 56,117 | 294,936 |
| 8. | Le Grand Chef (Sikkaek – Korean) | 11.01 | 115 | 25,057 | 2,969,549 |
| 9. | Kiki’s Delivery Service | 11.22 | 38 | 7,500 | 23,716 |
| 10. | My Eleventh Mother (Yeolhanbeonjjae Eomma – Korean) | 11.29 | 46 | 6,275 | 333,337 |
(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)
Dear Mark.
thank you once again for a great look at the Korean Box office.
I have a question for you, Have you heard of a Korean film about the No-Gun-Ri bridge incident called “Small Pond” will it be released in 2008, it was scheduled to be released in June 2007 but as of yet I can not find any information about a release date.
The most high profile film about No Gun Ri was called, last I checked, THE BRIDGE AT NO GUN RI. But maybe I missed the name change, or something like that.
Anyhow, NO GUN RI was pushed back from summer to October, but obviously it missed that deadline. And with MK Pictures in a weird place (finacially and organizationally) at the moment, I am not sure of its status.