Korea Box Office: ‘Wicked,’ ‘Hidden Face’ Take top Places

“Wicked,” which was by far the highest grossing film in the world this weekend, failed to give the South Korea box office market a much-needed jolt.

The Jon M. Chu-directed fantasy claimed a strong 45% share of the box office in Korea with $3.58 million earned from 501,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday. Over five days, it collected $4.64 million.
Korean-produced “Hidden Face” earned $1.75 million, and a more than 21% market share, for second place. Over its full five-day opening, it accumulated $2.41 million.

Directed by Kim Dae-woo (“Obsessed”), the film is a remake of the 2011 Spanish-Columbian picture of the same title. It involves a woman who is thought to have disappeared, but instead is trapped in a secret room in her house. She is forced to be an observer as her fiancé becomes romantically entangled with another woman. It stars Cho Yeo-jeong, Song Seung-heon and Park Ji-hyun.

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While the new releases elevated the box office to a weekend total of $7.96 million, up from $5.71 million the previous week, another sub-$10 million session points to further pain for Korea’s theatrical distributors and exhibitors. Korean audiences have found alternatives online and nowadays only turn out for the biggest event movies.

“Gladiator II” slipped from first place on its opening weekend to third. It earned $978,000 between Friday and Sunday, for a 12-day total of $5.12 million.

“Hear Me Our Summer,” took $624,000 in its third weekend of release. The film is a Korean remake of a 2009 hit Taiwanese romantic comedy in which a young man helps out with his sister, a hearing-impaired swimmer, and slowly falls in love with a girl he meets. After 19-days on release it has amassed $4.72 million.

Newly-released, Japanese animation, “My Hero Academia the Movie: You’re Next” earned $204,000 over the weekend and $308,000 over its opening five-day run.

“Venom: The Last Dance” earned $116,000 for sixth place. Its $12.2 million total earned since Oct. 23 puts it just outside the Korean top ten this year.

A rerelease of Japanese film “Even if This Love Disappears From the World Tonight” earned $95,000. So too did Korean title “Devils Stay” in its second weekend.

Long-running U.S. animation, “The Wild Robot” added $42,000 for a total of $4.40 million. Korean comedy-drama “Amazon Bullseye” added $20,000 for a total of $3.79 million after four weekends on release.