The New Year holiday kept crowds in theaters, with attendance dropping a slight 14% from the Christmas weekend as The Himalayas continued to dominate the charts. 60% of the 3.96 million tickets sold over the frame were bought for local films.

 

For the third time, LEE Seok-hoon’s The Himalayas was the comfortable weekend winner, drawing 1.24 million viewers (USD 8.48 million), a 30% drop from last weekend. JK Film and HWANG Jung-min (who collaborated on Ode to My Father in 2014) are proving their drawing power once again, as The Himalayas has now banked 6.37 million viewers (USD 41.73 million), not far behind their previous film’s 7.75 million through the same point. The question now is whether the expedition hit can cross the ten million viewer threshold. With reservations dropping and new competition on the way, the mark may be one peak that proves to be just out of reach.

 

Opening in second place with 671,311 spectators (USD 4.76 million) was the three-hour director’s cut of Inside Men: The Original. Combining it with the original cut (which is still in theatres), the LEE Byung-hun political thriller has now attracted an impressive 7.9 million viewers (USD 53.45 million).

 

Debuting in third place after just two days in theaters was Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, the special Victorian Era episode of the Benedict Cumberbatch TV show which is receiving a theatrical release in select markets. Its two-day total was 664,479 admissions (USD 4.44 million).

 

Meanwhile, though it cleared USD 1.5 billion worldwide over the frame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was down a hefty 66% in Korea, as 318,302 spectators (USD 2.45 million) brought its cumulative total to 3.12 million (USD 22.79 million).

 

Dropping 47% and falling to fifth place was animated sequel Hotel Transylvania 2, adding 315,285 viewers (USD 2 million) for a respectable 1.28 million admissions total (USD 7.91 million).

 

Opening in a disappointing sixth place was the last wide Korean commercial release of the year, KIM Dai-seung's period drama The Magician. The film could only conjure 287,757 filmgoers (USD 1.92 million) in its debut frame, and 512,428 admissions (USD 3.19 million) since its Wednesday opening.

 

Though unlikely to topple its fellow CJ Entertainment title The Himalayas, romantic mystery-drama Remember you, with JUNG Woo-sung and KIM Ha-neul, will open wide this week.