Report
THE DIVINE MOVE 2 Posts Strong Debut
DOCTOR SLEEP Drifts Off with Weak Start
As we edge closer to winter, admissions were down marginally to 2.04 million but with a strong new local title in the mix the Korean market share shot back up to a healthy 61%.
Opening over five years after the original and with KWON Sang-woo replacing JUNG Woo-sung as the lead actor (but as a different character), the prequel The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful posted a strong debut with 879,000 sales (USD 6.74 million) over the weekend, and a total of 1.07 million entries (USD 8.07 million) since its Thursday launch. This compares very favorably with the original, which amassed 1.18 million after four days in theaters. While the critical reaction has been lukewarm, audience scores are decent and a lack of competition for the rest of the month gives the action-thriller an opening to drum up more sales going forward.
After a decent start, Terminator: Dark Fate was hit hard by the competition as it experienced a 60% fall, giving it 379,000 sales (USD 2.88 million) over the weekend. To date, the sci-fi-action sequel has amassed 2.06 million admissions (USD 14.88 million). The previous Terminator (which featured local star LEE Byung-hun), finished with 3.24 million admissions.
The local hit KIM JI-YOUNG, BORN 1982 finally lost some of the wind in its sails as it slowed 49% in its third frame, during which it filled another 343,000 seats (USD 2.61 million). With 3.17 million entries (USD 22.6 million) counted to date, the film is a major success but may not cross another milestone.
Debuting in fourth place was the animation The Addams Family with 187,000 viewers (USD 1.3 million), and a total of 210,000 spectators (USD 1.46 million) counted over four days. Meanwhile, the Japanese animation Weathering With You couldn’t weather the competition and lost 53% of its audience for a 95,000 tickets (USD 720,000) weekend and a new running total of 520,000 sales (USD 3.71 million).
Just outside the top five, the well-reviewed The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep was dead on arrival with just 36,000 entries (USD 283,000) during the session, with 46,000 admissions (USD 354,000) overall since Thursday.
Though it isn’t out until next week, Frozen 2 is already handily topping the reservations chart and is expected to draw huge number at the end of the month. The first Frozen is one of only seven foreign films to have cracked 10 million admission in Korea. Regarding this week’s releases, the top choice appears to be the local thriller BLACK MONEY from director CHUNG Ji-young, starring CHO Jin-woong and LEE Ha-nee. Also coming out are the horror-action sequel Zombieland: Double Tap and the local indie drama Moonlit Winter, which was the closing film of this year’s Busan International Film Festival.
