Report
Repeat Winner GONJIAM Scare Off WHAT A MAN WANTS
READY PLAYER ONE Steady in 2nd
As the weekend crowds made the most of the blooming cherry blossoms in early April, audiences dipped at the Korean box office week-on-week with 1.87 million viewers recorded over the frame. The rankings saw little change but the Korean market share remained strong at 69% with two new local films, offering four of the top five spots this week to the domestic industry.
Repeating in the first place was last week’s surprise champ GONJIAM: Haunted Asylum which lost just under half its audience as it sold another 514,000 tickets (USD 4.04 million). JUNG Bum-shik ’s hit found-footage horror has welcomed a stellar 2.25 million viewers (USD 16.74 million) to date and is threatening to hit another milestone before its run is up.
Affair comedy What a Man Wants with LEE Sung-min and SHIN Ha-kyun, Twenty (2015) director LEE Byoung-heon ’s third film, debuted in second place, though it had topped the box office during its first two days. The film opened with 504,000 viewers (USD 3.91 million) over the weekend and has gathered 617,000 spectators (USD 4.71 million) since its Thursday start.
Not far behind in third place, after dipping only 36% in week two was Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi adventure Ready Player One, which added 473,000 entries (USD 4.09 million) to boost its total to an honorable 1.73 million admissions (USD 14.19 million).
Opening in fourth place was the local heartwarming drama Stand By Me with 108,000 tickets (USD 798,000) during the weekend and 138,000 entries recorded (USD 997,000) over its first four days.
Still, a presence on the charts in its fourth week as it slowed 60% was local fantasy melodrama Be With You. The star vehicle with SON Ye-jin and SO Ji-sub added 102,000 spectators (USD 802,000) to boost its total to a robust 2.53 million admissions (USD 18.92 million).
Sewol documentary Intention and Dwayne Johnson action vehicle Rampage are the main new entries this week but holdovers should remain high on the chart.
