Korean Box Office Report - April 14/16

We've had a few examples already this year, with 데이지 (Daisy)'s lukewarm performance, and even this weekend, with the predictably average results of Choi Ji-Woo's latest tearjerker 연리지 (Now and Forever), but also examples that the industry is slowly learning a lesson from all this, as the minor successes of 방과후 옥상 (See You After School) and this film have shown. Seeing its release increase considerably to over 300 screens nationwide, the film sold over 120,000 tickets over the weekend in Seoul, for a nationwide total of 1,200,000. The CJ Entertainment release should continue doing well and will perhaps enjoy its top spot until Ice Age 2 debuts on April 20. Seems like the 2 Million mark won't be too far off, which would allow the film (and its stars, as they had a running guarantee) to make a good profit. Consider this a more 'down to earth' version of 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown)'s success story.

For the second consecutive week, the animation film Hoodwinked ended up in second place. As distributors Showbox decided to focus on the dubbed version only (which features Kim Soo-Mi, Kang Hye-Jung, Im Ha-Ryong, and more), the result was better than most animation films shown with subtitles. Still enjoying a pretty good release of around 170 screens, the film sold over 60,000 tickets in Seoul during the weekend, for a total of around 620,000 tickets. Although Ice Age 2 should take some of its wind off, this new strategy (for Korea, that is) of only releasing the dubbed version certainly paid off. Not a very positive development in my book, as I'm always against dubbing, but in this case Kim Soo-Mi and company will probably make an average film look a little better.

Dakota Fanning's popularity in Korea showed once again, as Dreamer landed on third place, with a respectable opening weekend of over 150,000. But considering its very low per screen average compared to the rather large release (by Hollywood standards), I don't see the film staying in the Top 10 past next week. The biggest surprise of the week might just be a confirmation of Pride of Prejudice's popularity, which keeps doing pretty well despite all the competition. Now this is just me speculating, but as the release was still at 150 screens for two weeks, maybe there was a kind of deal between distributors and theater owners, to keep that figure at 150 for two weeks. The film's run slowed down a little, but we're still at around 10%, and well over the 800,000 tickets. The Million mark won't be easy to reach, but if the screens are still around the 100-120 mark, in two weeks to a month the film could get there.

Although Woody Allen's Match Point only debuted at No. 5 with around 60,000 tickets, this is the best result ever for an Allen film in Korea, but it's mostly down to Scarlett Johansson than anything else. Choi Ji-Woo fans might be disappointed by the quite underwhelming results of 연리지 (Now and Forever), but don't say I didn't warn you. With a release of over 220 screens, the film only managed to sell around 110,000 tickets total, with the 지방 (area outside of Seoul) surprisingly doing a little better than the capital. The film was completely trashed by the critics, but that's not the problem, really. As the huge flops of TV Dramas like 천국의 나무 (Tree of Heaven) and 봄의 왈츠 (Spring Waltz) have shown, Korean viewers don't seem to be interested in Korean Wave bait, and this is just another example. Of course films like these will continue to emerge in the future, but it's inevitable they'll have to focus on Japan and hope the trend won't die down over there. If you look at the commercial films doing well at the box office, they're going in the opposite direction, focusing on local trends instead of universal 'love stories' that populate all these Internationally-minded projects. I don't think they'll learn until they make a huge flop in the overseas market just like in Korea, but once again this should teach them a lesson: pretty faces don't guarantee box office results.

청춘만화 (Almost Love) considerably slowed down, but it did at least reach the 2 Million tickets, which is a good result, if a little disappointing. Shouldn't stay in the Top 10 for too long, considering what's debuting next week. Last week I got confused with release dates, so essentially I'll be repeating myself: in the next few days we'll have Ice Age 2, which should do extremely well, considering the track record of big budget foreign animation, and the Jung Jae-Young/Jang Seo-Hee melodrama 마이 캡틴, 김대출 (My Captain, Mr. Underground), which was panned by critics, but should at least have a decent opening. The real battle though will be at the end of April, when three big Korean films debut: Choi Ho's hardboiled noir 사생결단 (Bloody Tie), the Kang Hye-Jung/Jo Seung-Woo melodrama 도마뱀 (Love Phobia) and finally Shin Hyun-Joon and Kim Soo-Mi's human drama 맹발의 기봉이 (Barefoot Ki-Bong). Those three should dominate box office at least until Mission Impossible 3 debuts in early May, but that all depends on Ice Age 2 and how My Scary Girl will deal with the competition in the coming weeks.

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Box Office - April 14/16
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1.
달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl)
Official Website
2006 KOREA - dir. Son Jae-Gon
[Cast: Park Yong-Woo, Choi Kang-Hee, Jo Eun-Ji, Jung Kyung-Ho, Lee Hee-Do]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - Released on April 6
31.3% (+2.5%) Share - 1,953 Per Screen Avg. - 310 Screens (+27) Nationwide [64 in Seoul]
1,200,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (372,000 in Seoul)

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2.
Hoodwinked
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. Cory Edwards
[Voices: Kim Soo-Mi, Kang Hye-Jung, No Hong-Cheol, Im Ha-Ryong, Lee Jang-Won]
Distributed By Showbox - Released on April 6
16.1% (-2.7%) Share - 1,736 Per Screen Avg. - 167 Screens (-9) Nationwide [37 in Seoul]
627,996 Tickets Sold Nationwide (191,187 in Seoul)

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3.
Dreamer
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. John Gatins
[Voices: Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Kris Kristofferson, Freddy Rodriguez, Luis Guzman]
Distributed By Show East - Released on April 13
11.0% (New) Share - 897 Per Screen Avg. - 206 Screens (New) Nationwide [49 in Seoul]
157,941 Tickets Sold Nationwide (53,255 in Seoul)

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4.
Pride and Prejudice
Official Website
2006 UK - dir. Joe Wright
[Cast: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench]
Distributed By UIP Korea - Released on March 23
10.7% (-2.7%) Share - 820 Per Screen Avg. - 132 Screens (-18) Nationwide [39 in Seoul]
818,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (360,000 in Seoul)

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5.
Match Point
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Woody Allen
[Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox]
Distributed By CJ Entertainment - Released on April 13
7.2% (New) Share - 1,260 Per Screen Avg. - 70 Screens (New) Nationwide [23 in Seoul]
66,000 Tickets Sold Nationwide (35,000 in Seoul)

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6.
연리지 (Now and Forever)
Official Website
2006 KOREA - dir. Kim Sung-Joong
[Cast: Choi Ji-Woo, Jo Han-Seon, Choi Sung-Guk, Seo Young-Hee, Jin Hee-Kyung]
Distributed By Showbox - Released on April 13
6.9% (New) Share - 614 Per Screen Avg. - 227 Screens (New) Nationwide [45 in Seoul]
112,381 Tickets Sold Nationwide (35,192 in Seoul)

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7.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Scott Derrickson
[Cast: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter, Colm Feore]
Distributed By Sony Pictures - Released on April 13
5.7% (New) Share - 721 Per Screen Avg. - 122 Screens (New) Nationwide [32 in Seoul]
93,068 Tickets Sold Nationwide (26,958 in Seoul)

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8.
청춘만화 (Almost Love)
Official Website
2006 KOREA - dir. Lee Han
[Cast: Kwon Sang-Woo, Kim Ha-Neul, Jung Gyu-Soo, Park Ji-Bin, Jung Min-Ah]
Distributed By Showbox - Released on March 23
3.7% (-7.5%) Share - 549 Per Screen Avg. - 182 Screens (-58) Nationwide [27 in Seoul]
2,042,554 Tickets Sold Nationwide (573,589 in Seoul)

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9.
Fun with Dick & Jane
Official Website
2006 USA - dir. Dean Parisot
[Cast: Jim Carrey, Tea Leoni, Alec Baldwin, Michelle Arthur, Richard Burgi]
Distributed By Sony Pictures - Released on March 30
3.0% (-5.7%) Share - 571 Per Screen Avg. - 90 Screens (-69) Nationwide [21 in Seoul]
500,166 Tickets Sold Nationwide (200,871 in Seoul)

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10.
Crash
Official Website
2005 USA - dir. Paul Haggis
[Cast: Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito]
Distributed By Studio2.0 - Released on April 6
2.6% (-2.9) Share - 593 Per Screen Avg. - 58 Screens (-29) Nationwide [18 in Seoul]
131,111 Tickets Sold Nationwide (54,479 in Seoul)

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xx.
카리스마 탈출기 (The Legend of 7 Cutter)
2006 KOREA - dir. Kwon Nam-Gi [Cast: Yoon Eun-Hye, Ahn Jae-Mo, Lee Jung]
83,293 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
마법사들 (The Magicians)
2006 KOREA - dir. Song Il-Gon [Cast: Jung Woong-In, Kang Kyung-Heon, Lee Seung-Bi]
7,740 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
망종 (Grain In Ear)
2006 KOREA - dir. Zhang Lu [Cast: Ju Gwang-Hyeon, Ryu Yeon-Hee]
1,916 Tickets Sold Nationwide

xx.
피터팬의 공식 (The Peter Pan Formula)
2006 KOREA - dir. Jo Chang-Ho [Cast: On Ju-Wan, Kim Ho-Jung, Park Min-Ji]
1,773 Tickets Sold Nationwide

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2006 Box Office Top 10 (Korean Films)
===========================

01. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 6,002,000
02. 음란서생 (Forbidden Quest) - 2,570,000
03. 청춘만화 (Almost Love) - 2,042,554
04. 흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) - 1,784,646
05. 구세주 (Oh! My God) - 1,770,630
06. 홀리데이 (Holiday) - 1,345,174
07. 싸움의 기술 (The Art of Fighting) - 1,273,000
08. 달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl) - 1,200,000
09. 야수 (Running Wild) - 995,025
10. 데이지 (Daisy) - 957,104

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All Time Box Office Top 20 (Korean Films)
=============================

01. 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) - 12,298,280 [2005]
02. 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) - 11,746,135 [2004]
03. 실미도 (Silmido) - 11,108,000 [2003]
04. 친구 (Friend) - 8,180,000 [2001]
05. 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) - 8,002,594 [2005]
06. 쉬리 (Shiri) - 6,210,000 [1999]
07. 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher) - 6,002,000 [2006]
08. 공동경비구역 JSA (Joint Security Area) - 5,830,000 [2000]
09. 가문의 위기 (Marrying The Mafia 2) - 5,663,000 [2005]
10. 조폭 마누라 (My Wife is a Gangster) - 5,250,000 [2001]
11. 가문의 영광 (Marrying the Mafia) - 5,200,001 [2002]
12. 말아톤 (Marathon) - 5,148,022 [2005]
13. 살인의 추억 (Memories of Murder) - 5,120,000 [2003]
14. 엽기적인 그녀 (My Sassy Girl) - 4,841,500 [2001]
15. 동갑내기 과외하기 (My Tutor Friend) - 4,810,000 [2003]
16. 신라의 달밤 (Kick The Moon) - 4,353,800 [2001]
17. 태풍 (Typhoon) - 4,180,000 [2005]
18. 집으로 (The Way Home) - 4,091,000 [2002]
19. 색즉시공 (Sex is Zero) - 4,089,900 [2002]
20. 공공의 적 2 (Another Public Enemy) - 3,911,356 [2005]

[Sources: nKino, Film2.0, KOBIS]