ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Shrinks the Competition

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ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Shrinks the Competition

Jul 10, 2018

Writer by Pierce Conran
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SUNSET IN MY HOMETOWN Goes Quietly into the Night

Marvel once again laid claim to the Korean box office during the busy first frame of July, which saw admissions soar 50% to 2.81 million, while local films lost their market share advantage as Hollywood swept up 71% of sales.

The 20th title in the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe and coming hot on the heels of Avengers: Age Ultron, which soared over the ten million viewer mark in Korea, Ant-Man and the Wasp enjoyed an enormous debut with 1.92 million entries (USD 15.55 million) recorded during its first frame, which was almost double the debut of the first Ant-Man in 2015. With 2.63 admissions (USD 20.91 million) banked in five days, the sequel has almost caught up its predecessor’s 2.85 million viewer total.

Down just 38% in its second weekend, PARK Hoon-jung’s action-mystery The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion brought in another 451,000 viewers (USD 3.61 million), to raise its total to a sturdy 1.58 million sales (USD 13.85 million). The Warner Bros. Korea title is likely to cross the two million admissions barrier this week.

Representing a rare misfire for hit director LEE Joon-ik, who recently released DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet (2016) and Anarchist from Colony (2017), was the debut of his latest film, youth drama Sunset in My Hometown with PARK Jung-min and KIM Go-eun. The film mustered only 180,000 admissions (USD 1.41 million) during its opening weekend and a total of 282,000 visitors (USD 2.13 million) since it opened on Wednesday.

The Accidental Detective 2: In Action slowed 78% as it began its march out of theaters with another 94,000 ticket take (USD 727,000). However, this was enough for E.oni’s film to shoot past the three million admissions benchmark, 3.06 million (USD 23.5 million) to be exact, making it only the third Korean film of the year to do so after the drama Keys to the Heart and LEE Hae-young’s Believer.

Rounding out the top five after rising of two spots was the Chinese animation Happy Little Submarine: Magic Box of Time. With 28,000 new entries (USD 189,000) the title is trying to corner the children’s market before Disney sweeps in with The Incredibles 2 next week. The animation has brought in 97,000 admissions (USD 654,000) after almost two weeks in theaters.

Ant-Man and the Wasp stands a good chance of staying right at the top of the charts as this coming weekend’s only major competition is the Dwayne Johnson vehicle Skyscraper. Johnson’s popularity is rising in Korea, with recent hits Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Rampage reaching 1.7 and 1.3 million viewers, respectively. Yet his clout might not be enough to unseat a Marvel title in its second week.

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