THE DIVINE MOVE Almost Upsets TRANSFORMERS in Korea
 

Following its positive critical reception and solid performance in limited release during its debut, Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer expanded to 250 screens in North America over the past weekend. The sci-fi earned just shy of USD 1 million in 16th place, bringing its total to USD 1.5 million.

 

Last week, Snowpiercer was released in eight screens and averaged a robust USD 21,398 in each. However, it was not able to maintain its momentum in its sophomore frame as its per theater average fell to an estimated USD 3,996. Bong’s latest opus will be released by Radius-TWC on Video on Demand (VOD) in North America next week.

 

At the domestic box office, new local thriller The Divine Move, with 925,666 admissions, came within a hair’s breath of unseating the blockbuster sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction, which added 960,609 tickets to its total, currently at 4.16 million viewers. The Divine Move demonstrated the continued appeal of local star JUNG Woo-sung, whose last film Cold Eyes, in which he played an antagonist for the first time, opened to 1.35 million admissions at the same time last year.

 

Meanwhile in China, AN Byung-ki’s Bunshinsaba 3, the latest sequel to his Chinese-language reboot of his own Korean original, debuted to USD 3.5 million. The previous installment earned USD 13 million at the Chinese box office.