Tops Local Box Office Three Weeks Running
Confession of Murder, the Japanese update of the 2012 Korean thriller of the same name, unseated
Beauty and the Beast’s seven-week reign at the box office in Japan and held on to the top spot for three weeks, accumulating USD 12.8 million as of last weekend.
The film debuted on 329 screens and collected USD 2.92 million from 234,000 entries in its first weekend. Easing slightly going forward, the film earned USD 2.35 million and USD 2.1 million in its subsequent frames and is expected to finish north of USD 20 million.
Distributed by Warner Japan, the remake features FUJIWARA Tatsuya (in a role originally played by
PARK Si-hoo) as a killer who becomes a celebrity when he confesses to his crimes in a tell-all book he publishes right after the expiration of the statute of limitations of his crimes. ITO Hideaki takes over
JUNG Jae-young’s role as the detective who has been trying to take him down all of this time.
FUJIWARA is known for Battle Royale (2000) and Death Note (2006), among others, while ITO has recently featured in MIIKE Takashi films such as Lesson of the Evil (2012) and last year’s Terra Formars. Director IRIE Yu recently made Hibi Rock (2014) and Joker Game (2015).
The original
Confession of Murder was directed by
JUNG Byung-gil, who recently debuted his latest film
The Villainess at the Cannes Film Festival. The film welcomed 2.73 million viewers (USD 17.86 million) in late 2012.