US films captured 60.5% of the Korean marketplace over the weekend, their first majority share on the chart since mid-October, during a relatively slow January frame that sold 2.01 million tickets.

 

The same week that it scored 12 nominations for next month’s Academy Awards, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s period survival drama The Revenant drew 694,585 viewers (USD 4.7 million) in its opening weekend in Korea, and 821,208 admissions (USD 5.5 million) since its Thursday debut. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio found himself back at the top of the Korean box office for the first time since Christopher Nolan’s Inception in 2010.

 

Opening in a distant second place with 279,876 viewers (USD 1.89 million), and 354,926 in four days (USD 2.36 million), was Showbox’s romance Mood of the Day with YOO Yeon-seok and MOON Chae-won. With mid-level audience score, the melodrama is unlikely to make a recovery in the coming weeks. The next highest opener was US children’s film Goosebumps (based on the famous book series) with 144,021 viewers (USD 909,444) in sixth place, and 182,411 spectators (USD 1.13 million) since its Thursday debut.

 

Slipping 41% and down to third place was Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur as it added 270,283 spectators (USD 1.66 million) to its haul, which is just shy of one million admissions, currently sitting at 983,043 (USD 5.99 million). Seeing its take halved was blockbuster The Himalayas, which brought in another 189,379 filmgoers (USD 1.24 million) to brings its total to 7.47 million admissions (USD 47.81 million). In fifth was Inside Men: The Original, the director’s cut of political thriller Inside Men, with another 158,296 tickets (USD 1.09 million) sold. The extended version of the film now has a total of 1.85 million admissions (USD 12.48 million), which, when combined with the original cut, gives the film a grand total of 8.92 million (USD 59.13 million).

 

On the diversity chart, Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth grew 38%, adding 24,351 viewers (USD 77,907) for a new total of 43,617 (USD 280,946), while IWAI Shunji’s classic Japanese romance Love Letter (1995) sold 11,296 tickets (USD 63,563) on rerelease.

 

Next week’s major release will be N.E.W.’s Korean War-set melodrama A Melody to Remember.