Business boosted a hefty 75% over the Christmas weekend to bring admissions to the four million mark, which despite being 15% lower than last year’s comparable weekend was still one of the biggest of the year. A hot Korean local release drove up the local market share to 72%.

Sucking up 57% of the marketplace during its opening weekend was the star-driven action-thriller Master with LEE Byung-hun, GANG Dong-won and KIM Woo-bin from Cold Eyes (2013) director CHO Ui-seok. The film mustered a powerful 2.24 million admissions (USD 15.89 million) during the three-day period and has already banked three million entries (USD 20.7 million) since its Wednesday bow. That’s the fourth best opening of the year, behind TRAIN TO BUSAN, Captain America: Civil War and A Violent Prosecutor, which also featured GANG. 

Opening for the family crowds this weekend was Hollywood animation Sing, which welcomed 498,000 viewers (USD 3.37 million) over the three day and 567,000 spectators (USD 3.78 million) over five days.

Local disaster pic Pandora slowed 57% for another 429,000 new entries (USD 2.91 million). This brings its ticket haul to a sturdy if slightly disappointing 3.94 million admissions (USD 25.99 million), though its global rights pre-sale to Netflix places it comfortably in the black.

Resilient in its third weekend after dropping just 11% was Oscar frontrunner La La Land which charted with another 379,000 viewers (USD 2.79 million), giving it an impressive 1.94 million spectators (USD 13.79 million) to date. The film has now passed the total of director Damien Chazelle’s debut Whiplash, which was an unexpected sensation in Korea in 2015.

Quickly losing steam during its second weekend was local fantasy romance Will You Be There?, which was down 56% with 181,000 admissions (USD 1.32 million) in fifth place and 995,000 entries (USD 6.89 million) to date.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the major new release this week but unlike in other markets, it could face a challenge scaling to first place against the sophomore stint of Master.