Space Drama Tops Holiday Weekend
With the help of Hangul (Korean alphabet) Day on Friday, business saw an uptick over the weekend, with 3.24 million viewers bustling into theaters, many of them looking to catch the latest Hollywood space drama to hit local screens. Locked out of the top two spots, Korean films saw their market share slide to 30%.
Following the success of Gravity in 2013 and particularly Interstellar last year, which wound up over the ten million admissions mark, viewers turned out in force for The Martian, the third straight space-set blockbuster to open strongly in the fall. Accounting for almost 50% of ticket sale, the Ridley Scott film rocketed to a 1.53 million viewers (USD 11.04 million) opening frame, and 1.81 million (USD 12.95 million) since it opened on Thursday. Given the strong audience reactions, it should see its total grow significantly in the coming weeks.
Dropping just 8% in its third frame, Hollywood comedy The Intern drew another 489,513 spectators (USD 3.49 million) for an impressive 2.27 million (USD 15.8 million) total. Opening in third was local legal comedy-thriller The Advocate: A missing body with a decent 452,158 tickets (USD 3.16 million) over the weekend and 555,307 (USD 3.83 million) since its Thursday bow. Though not a big start, generally positive viewer responses could indicate some word of mouth going forward.
The Throne dropped another 51%, clinching fourth with 241,773 viewers (USD 1.64 million) and a new total of 6.01 million (USD 41.07 million).
THE ACCIDENTAL DETECTIVE slide 55%, accruing 210,713 viewers (USD 1.44 million) over the weekend and 2.41 million (USD 16.46 million) in total. Just outside of the top five,
Pan posted a lacklustre 126,498 admissions (USD 858,876) for a 144,934 (USD 983,708) four-day total.