Korean Box Office Report - December 23/25

Seems like I'm talking about a David vs Goliath fight, but 'King Kong' is still a $200 Million film, and it still enjoys the kind of distribution few foreign films can dream about after a week of release. 'Typhoon' was headed for a very comfortable run, with a record breaking opening of 1,800,000 tickets, and passing the 3 Million barrier in just 10-11 days. But as the good response for 'King Kong' started gaining weight, preorder sales for the Korean film went down, which allowed the big ape to gain first place. The film sold over 260,000 tickets during the Christmas weekend in Seoul, against 'Typhoon' and its 258,000, and reached a total of 2,150,000 tickets so far. 4 Million shouldn't be too far off for the blockbuster, which would be an excellent result. As for 'Typhoon', it's already reached 3,250,000 tickets, but it definitely slowed down.

The biggest problem now is reaching the 5 Million tickets, target necessary to break even. It should be just a matter of a week-ten days, but let's not forget that both 청연 (Blue Swallow) (which did raise a big controversy, but it also was unanimously praised, and has a big cast) and 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) (again, almost unanimously praised) released today, and even if 'Typhoon' will hold a good 300 screens until at least the end of the holidays, reaching the 8 Million of 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) seems an arduous task now, more than ever. One hopes the film will break even, and that its makers will learn a valuable lesson from this: throwing money at the screen, hoping it will make up for inconsistencies in the film, doesn't always work, especially in Korea. 'Well Made' wasn't just a fad, it's what Koreans require to grant their approval for films like this, as the success of 'Dongmakgol' showed last Summer.

Those who wanted to avoid the three big blockbusters -- third being Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- had a few other choices, mostly domestic romance films, and the sexy romantic comedy 작업의 정석 (The Art of Seduction) was able to rise amongst its competitors to record a very good first weekend. Starring Son Ye-Jin and Song Il-Guk, the film could have been a huge hit if it weren't for the competition, which makes you wonder why they released it now, when waiting three weeks to one month would have put it in a much better position.

Distributors Showbox expect the film to reach the 3.5 Million tickets, which is possible, but still a bit early to say. Released over 350 screens, the film sold 230,000 tickets in just three days, and went past the Million tickets on its first weekend. More importantly, thanks to Son Ye-Jin's newfound popularity in Japan, distribution rights for 'The Art of Seduction' were sold to Japan's HappyNet for around $3.5 Million, which combined with the intake from its opening weekend and another $500,000 of distribution rights (mostly to Asian countries) allowed the film to reach the break even point after just one week (budget was 5.6 Billion).

Fourth place goes to the latest film in the 'Harry Potter' saga, which definitely slowed down, but still added 100,000 tickets to its total tally of 3.5 Million. Also, the melodrama 파랑주의보 (My Girl & I), an adaptation of a famous Japanese novel starring Cha Tae-Hyun and Song Hye-Gyo, had a decent opening week of 260,000 tickets nationwide. The romantic comedy 광식이 동생 광태 (When Romance Meets Destiny) is selling its last few tickets, and although the film has reached the 2.4 Million barrier, it's very unlikely it'll go past that. Next week will be hard to predict, with two big Korean films on release - 'Blue Swallow' and 'The King and The Clown' -- as well as The Chronicles of Narnia. Combined with the four big hits, it would be very hard to imagine any other title becoming the sleeper hit of the holiday season. I'm rooting for 'Blue Swallow', but hopefully all the Korean films on release will do well.

Note: We will publish a complete 2005 box office list in our upcoming '2005 Year in Review' (which should be ready around mid-January).

Box Office Top 7 - Weekend of December 23~25

1.
King Kong
2005 NZ/US - dir. Peter Jackson [Cast: Jack Black, Naomi Watts]
Distributed By UIP - 28.2% Share - 2,610 Per Screen Avg. - 375 Screens (+21)
2,156,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

2.
태풍 (Typhoon)
2005 KOREA - dir. Kwak Kyung-Taek [Cast: Jang Dong-Gun, Lee Jung-Jae]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - 27.9% Share - 2,019 Per Screen Avg. - 500 Screens (-40)
3,255,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

3.
작업의 정석 (The Art of Seduction)
2005 KOREA - dir. Oh Gi-Hwan [Cast: Son Ye-Jin, Song Il-Guk]
Distributed By Showbox - 24.7% Share - 3,008 Per Screen Avg. - 350 Screens (New)
1,035,230 Tickets Sold Nationwide

4.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 UK/USA - dir. Mike Newell [Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Eric Sykes]
Distributed By Warner Brothers Korea - 11.2% Share - 1,711 Per Screen Avg. - 240 Screens (-44)
3,500,100 Tickets Sold Nationwide

5.
파랑주의보 (My Girl & I)
2005 KOREA - dir. Jeon Yoon-Soo [Cast: Cha Tae-Hyun, Song Hye-Gyo]
Distributed By: I Love Cinema - 6.5% Share - 1,625 Per Screen Avg. - 181 Screens (New)
260,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide

6.
광식이 동생 광태 (When Romance Meets Destiny)
2005 KOREA - dir. Kim Hyun-Seok [Cast: Kim Joo-Hyeok, Bong Tae-Gyu]
Distributed by MK Pictures - 0.6% Share - 711 Per Screen Avg. - 51 Screens (-149)
2,423,569 Tickets Sold Nationwide

7.
The Family Stone
2005 USA - dir. Thomas Bezucha [Cast: Claire Danes, Diane Keaton]
Distributed By Fox Korea - 1.5% Share - 278 Per Screen Avg. - 60 Screens (-40)

2005 Box Office Top 10 (Korean Films)

01. 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) - 8,002,594
02. 가문의 위기 (Marrying The Mafia 2) - 5,663,000
03. 말아톤 (Marathon) - 5,179,154
04. 공공의 적 2 (Another Public Enemy) - 3,910,000
05. 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) - 3,560,000
06. 태풍 (Typhoon) - 3,255,000
07. 너는 내 운명 (You Are My Sunshine) - 3,070,000
08. 마파도 (Mapado) - 3,020,000
09. 내 생애 가장 아름다운 일주일 (All For Love) - 2,545,000
10. 박수칠 때 떠나라 (Murder, Take One) - 2,480,000

All Time Box Office Top 10 (Korean Films)

01. 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) - 11,746,135 [2004]
02. 실미도 (Silmido) - 11,074,000 [2003]
03. 친구 (Friend) - 8,180,000 [2001]
04. 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) - 8,002,594 [2005]
05. 쉬리 (Shiri) - 6,210,000 [1999]
06. 공동경비구역 JSA (Joint Security Area) - 5,830,000 [2000]
07. 가문의 위기 (Marrying The Mafia 2) - 5,663,000 [2005]
08. 조폭 마누라 (My Wife is a Gangster) - 5,250,000 [2001]
09. 가문의 영광 (Marrying the Mafia) - 5,200,001 [2002]
10. 말아톤 (Marathon) - 5,179,154 [2005]

[Sources: Yonhap News, Film2.0, Chosun Ilbo, nKino]