Archive for the 'Box Office' Category

Midnight FM spent a well-deserved second weekend at the top of the box office charts, although the total number of viewers is relatively light. This may be a combination of fantastic fall weather which is set to end this week with the threat of first frost and the fact that most universities are starting midterm exams this week. However, the low total notwithstanding, the film handily beat out the second tier film, Paranormal Activity 2. Frankly I am surprised that Paranormal Activity did so well.  I will wait until I hear from someone who has seen it before I decide if I will take a chance with the sequel.  Chameul Soo Eobta did wind up with the official English title Loveholic and Dwenjang was given the name The Recipe.  This week, there is one film currently lacking an official English title, but I expect one to be assigned any day now. That film is the new Ryu Seung-wan film, Boodang Georae starring the director’s brother Ryu Seung-Beom as well as Hwang Jeong-min. More info is below on that and other films being released this coming Thursday.

1. Acustic (kr)– d. Yoo Sang-heon, starring Shin Se-kyeong, Im Seul-woong

2. Boodang Georae (kr)– d. Ryu Seung-wan, starring Hwang Jeong-min, Ryu Seung-beom www.baddeal2010.co.kr

3. Come Closer (kr)– d. Kim Jong-gwan, starring Yoong Gye-sang, Jeong Yoo-mi

4. Last Chance Harvey (us)– d. Joel Hopkins, starring Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson

5. Legend of the Guardians (us)– d. Zack Snyder, voiced by Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess www.legend3d.co.kr

6. Natalie (kr)– d. Joo Kyeong-joong, starring Lee seong-jae, Kim Ji-hoon http://natalie.co.ke

7. Second Half (kr)– d. Jo Seong-gyu, starring Ryu Seung-joo, Lee Som

8. Sky Crawlers (jp)– d. Mamoru Oshii, voiced by Ryo Kase, Rinko Kikuchi

9. Stool Pigeon (hk)– d. Danse Lam, starring Nicholas Tse, Lunnei Kwai

Midnight FM opened strong and took the top spot away from Cyrano Agency which had been first ranked for the past three weeks.  I expect it will probably remain there for another week as well. The only unexpected change in the box office is the appearance of Don’t Cry for Me Sudan which opened on September 9th.   This coming week, two new Korean films will open, but they have not yet been officially assigned English names so their romanized Korean names appear here. Hopefully, this will change by next week.  In pre-production, Chameul Soo Eobtda was being called ‘Loveholic‘.   A sequel to what I found to be THE most disappointing horror movie ever opens this week as well– Paranormal Activity 2.  However, I don’t think I will be tricked into paying to see it after the first film.  I’ll wait until its on tv…  These and other movies opening this week are listed below.

1. Chameul Soo Eobtda (kr)– d. Kwon Cheol-in, starring Jeong Chan, Choo Ja-hyeon www.secretromance2010.co.kr

2. Dwenjang (kr)– d. Lee Seo-goon, starring Ryu Seung-ryong, Lee Yo-won

3. Nora’s Will (mx)– d. Mariana Chenillo, starring Fernando Luian, Silvia Mariscal

4. Paranormal Activity 2 (us)– d. Tod Williams, starring Katie Featherstone, Gabriel Liotta www.paranormalactivity2.co.kr

5. Planet 51 (sp/uk/us)– d. Jorge Blanco, voiced by Dwayne Johnson www.planet51.co.kr

6. Silence Before Bach (sp)– d. Pere Portabella, Feodor Atkine, Alex Brendemuhl

7. Skate or Die (fr)- Miguel Courtois, starring Mickey Mahut, Idriss Diop www.skateordie.co.kr

8. Wall Street 2 (us)– d. Oliver Stone, starring Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf www.foxkorea.co.kr/wallstreet/

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1. End Call (jp)– d. Kiyoshi Yamamoto, starring Yuria Haga, Asami Usuda

2. Ha:l (kr)– d. Yoon Yong-jin, starring Woo Sang-jeon, Jo Yong-joo

3. I, Giovanni (it)– d. Carlos Saura, starring Lorenzo Balducci, Lino Guanciale

4. Midnight FM (kr)– d. Kim Sang-man, starring Soo Ae, Yoo Ji-tae www.fm2010.co.kr

5. Reign of Assassins (ch/us/hk)– d. John Woo, starring Jeong Woo-seong, Michelle Yeoh www.gumwoo2010.com

6. 22 Bullets (fr)– d. Richard Berry, starring Jean Reno, Kad Merad www.22bullets.co.kr

Cyrano Agency stays at the top of the charts for a second week in a row.  The only new films to make an impact were the Korean comedy Banga? Banga! and the American film Eat, Pray, Love.  I was a little disappointed that Salinui Kang failed to secure a decent release–only 14 screens.  I thought the film looked interesting, but with less than 1100 people paying to see it last weekend, I may have to wait for the DVD…

The new movies being released this week  are listed below.

1.Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (ch/hk)– d. Hark Tsui, starring Andy Lau, Tony Leung Ka Tai   www.detective2010.co.kr

2. Godfather: Part 2 (us- yes the 1974 movie)– d. Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall

3. Letters to Juliet (us)– d. Gary Winick, starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan www.letterstojuliet.co.kr

4. Star of Hope (kr)– d. Lee Hong-seok <documentary>

The Chuseok holiday proved good for Korean films sending many of the new films into the 1 million viewer category. Cyrano Agency decisively came out on top but the number two position saw two (three films here in Jeonju) in a tight race. A Better Tomorrow and Despicable Me were neck in neck while Troubleshooter, released a week earlier than these other films, put on a good show in Jeonju. Meanwhile, A Man From Nowhere, nearing the end of its top-10 run, quietly passed the 6 million mark making it one of the most-seen movies of this year.

For the movies being released this week, refer to last week’s posting. They are slated to be released on Sept. 30th.

A Better Tomorrow, a remake of the Hong Kong film The Invincibles, took the top spot in the box office this last weekend. However, it was not an easy win. The top three films, which also included Resident Evil 4 (in 3D) and Cyrano Agency, were separated by less than 3 percentage points in the national charts.  I put an asterisk next to the number 4 film, Troubleshooter. Two weeks ago, when listing the films awaiting release, I listed this movie starring Seol Kyeong-gu as Troubleshooter, but last weekend, when it was number on, the Daum Film site was calling it Trapped. As KOFIC had not listed what English name it was going to officially carry, I assumed that Daum had inside knowledge as it is one of the largest search engines in Korea and followed suit when I made the chart last Monday. My mistake. Daum is still listing the film as Trapped, but officially KOFIC is calling it Troubleshooter. While the numbers were a little low this past weekend, that will certainly change this week. The Chuseok holiday begins Tuesday. Most companies have this entire week out. New movies opening this Thursday will be able to take advantage of the holiday as well. These films are listed below.

1. Banga? Banga! (kr)– d. Yoon Sang-hyeon, starring Kim In-gwon, Kim Jeong-tae www.banga2010.co.kr

2. Eat, Pray, Love (us)– d. Ryan Murphy, starring Julia Roberts, Javer Barden

3. Eight Sentiments (kr)– d. Seong Ji-hye, starring Kim Yeong-ho, Hwang In-yeong

4. Man From Earth (us)– d. Richard Schenkman, starring David Lee Smith, John Billingsley

5. Norwegian Woods (kr)– d. No Jin-soo, starring Jeong Kyeong-ho, Park In-soo

6. Resilience (kr/us)–d. Tammy Chu, starring No Myeong-ja, Brent www.resilience.com <documentary>

7. Salinui Kang (kr)– d. Kim Dae-hyeon, starring Kim Da-hyeon, Shin Shin Seong-rok

8. Univited (kr)–d. Lee Eung-il, starring Kim Jin-shik, Won  Kang-yeong

This week, two new films topped the box office charts as Man From Nowhere finally gave way. Trapped, starring Seol Kyeong-gu and the Japanese anime The Borrowers landed in first and second place respectively. Cyrano Agency and Quiz King had test runs before their opening date (hence being marked with ‘n/a’) and managed to do quite well.

The Chuseok Holiday is next week and this is usually a busy time for movie theaters. Perhaps even more so this year as the holiday will be much longer for most people. The university I work at cancelled the sandwich days so effectively we have a ten day holiday starting next Friday. Expect figures to run much higher than on usual weekends. The new films that will be in theaters during Chuseok are listed below in alphabetical order.

1. Cats & Dogs 2 (us)– d. Brad Peyton–starring James Marsden, Nick Nolte www.catsdogs2.kr

2. Cyrano Agency (kr)– d. Kim Hyeon-seok–starring Uhm Tae-woong, Lee Min-jeong www.cyranoagency.com

3. Despicable Me (us)– d. Pierre Coffin–voiced by Steve Carell, Jason Segel www.superbad.kr <opening in Korea as Super Bad>

4. Enlightenmnet Film (kr)–d. Park Dong-hoon–starring Jeong Seung-gil, Kim Ji-in

5. Grand Prix (kr)– d. Yang Yoon-ho– starring Kim Tae-hee, Yang Dong-geun www.grand2010.co.kr

6. Mujeokja (kr)– d. Song Hae-seong– starring Joo Jin-mo, Song Seung-hyeon www.go-together.co.kr

7. Oki’s Movie (kr)– d. Hong Sang-soo–starring Lee Seon-gyun, Jeong Yoo-mi

8. Quiz King (kr)– d. Jang Jin– starring Kim Soo-ro, Han Jae-seok www.quizking2010.co.kr

9. Resident Evil 4 (us)– d. Paul Anderson–starring Milla Jovoich, Wentworth Miller www.re4.co.kr

10. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (th)– d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul– starring Sakda Kaewbuadee, Jenjira Pongpas  <opening in Korea as Uncle Boonmee>

The Man From Nowhere managed to hang on to the number one spot for yet another week bringing its total number of viewers to over 5 million.  Inception also gained over five million viewers and rose three places in the national box office while dropping an equal amount here in Jeonju. Bedeviled, a film I was looking forward to, wound up not opening anywhere in the North Jeolla Province so I was unable to see it. Nor could I have seen it if I went to Daejeon–about an hour or an hour and a half away. I would have had to gone down to Gwangju to watch it. Bedeviled opened on just 76 screens nationwide. 33 of these were in Seoul and 21 were in Busan. In Seoul, the movie ranked 9th but in Busan, Bedeviled ranked 4th. I feel they missed their bet not opening the movie here. I think it would have done well.   Next week, even The Man From Nowhere is likely to drop down one tier as Troubleshooter opens in theaters. Details of this and other movies coming this week are below.

1. Borrowers (jp)– d. Hiromasa Yonebayashi, voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki, Kirin Kiki www.arrietty/2010.co.kr

2. Don’t Cry for Me Sudan (kr)–d. Ku Soo-hwan, starring Lee Tae-seok <documentary> www.dontcryformesudan.com

3. Earth Women (kr)– d. Kwon Woo-jeong, starring So Hee-joo, Kang Seon-hee <documentary> www.earthwomen.co.kr

4. Nodame Kantabine (jp)– d. Hideki Takeuchi, starring Juri Ueno, Hiroshi Tamaki www.nodame2010.co.kr

5. Troubleshooter (kr)– d. Kwak Hyeok-jae, starring Seol Keong-gu, Lee Jeong-jin www.action2010.co.kr

This has been a very busy morning. First a 9:30 meeting going over the budget of an exchange program we are making, the a photo session for a local Chinese-language newspaper, then a meeting with a new English speaking professor followed by a meeting with a Nepalese grad student. Currently I am waiting for one of the students in the school’s soccer team because I promised him he could take my class but, since its full, I have to sign a form granting him permission to enter.  But while I am waiting, I can finish the box office. Of course, with school starting this Wednesday–and all my classes being in the morning–this will be about the time I will be posting the box office each Monday–about 3 o’clock local time. All summer I had it online by 11, but it will be a couple of hours later for the next 15 weeks or so. 

The Man from Nowhere remained at number 1 for the fourth week in a row. I was surprised to see the Last Airbender still in number 2 given the word of mouth reviews I have been hearing. I was even more surprised about Piranha.. but I guess the 3D gimmick is still enough of a draw to get people into the theater. The other new films, Predators and Enemy at the End fell flat on their debut weekend–and with 11 new films opening in theaters this week, they could disappear from screens altogether by next weekend. The new films are listed below. Of them, Bedeviled interests me the most, especially after reading the review for it by Kim Kyu-hyun at Koreanfilm.org.

1. Afterlife (us)– Agnieszko Wojtowicz-Vosloo, starring Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci www.afterlife2010.co.kr

2. Bedeviled (kr)–Jang Cheol-soo, starring Seo Yeong-hee, Ji Seong-won

3. Door (de)– Anno Saul, starring Mads Mikkelsen, Jessica Schwarz www.thedoor2010.co.kr

4. Escape (kr)– Leesong Hee-il, starring Lee Yeong-hoon, So Yoo-jin

5. Hua Mulan (us/ch)– d. Jingle Ma & Wei Dong, starring Wei Zhao, Kun Chen www.mulan2010.co.kr

6. Kids Are All Right, The (us)– d. Lisa Cholodenko, starring Annette Bening, Julianna Moore www.allright2010.co.kr

7. Killers (us)– d. Robert Luketic, starring Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher www.killers.co.kr

8. Lymelife (us)– d. Derick Martini, starring Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon

9. Paper Heart (us)– d. Nicholas Jasenovec, starring Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera

10. Thumbelina’s Father (kr)– d. Kang Seong-ryong, starring Bang Dong-won, Jin Da-eun

11. Tournament (uk)– d. Scott Mann, starring Robert Carlyle, Kelly Hu www.tournament2010.co.kr

The Won Bin action film, Man From Nowhere, managed to stay at the top of the national box office chart for its third week in a row–but just barely. There was just 1 percentage point difference between it and the number two film, The Last Airbender. Here in Jeonju, the two films’ places were reversed. This in itself is not surprising. What mystified me was the differences in percentages–Last Airbender led by nearly 10 percentage points. I can only chalk this up to the number of screens. Nationally, the Man from Nowhere was shown on 540 screens while The Last Airbender played on 450.  Here in North Cheolla, Man from Nowhere was on 14 screens and Airbender was seen in 16.

Eleven new movies are being released this coming week, which for many marks a return to school–although the university I work at does not start until the following week.   These are listed below in alphabetical order.

1. Centurion (uk)– d. Neil Marshall, starring Michale Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko www.centurion2010.co.kr

2. Enemy at the End (kr)–d. Jo Won-hee & Kim Sang-hwa, starring Cheon Ho-jin, Yoo Hae-jin http://pisal-boksu.co.kr

3. Golden Slumber (jp)–d. Yoshihiro Nakamura, starring Yuko Takeuchi, Nao Omori

4. Good Husband (jp)– Isao Yukisada, starring Hiroko Yakushimaru, Etsushi Toyokawa

5. Hell Ride (us)– d. Larry Bishop, starring Larry Bishop, Dennis Hopper

6. Mister Zombie (kr)– d. Lee Soo-sang, starring Won Poong-yeon, Bae Noo-ri www.leefilm.co.kr/mrzombie

7. Piranha 3D (us)– d. Alexandre Ala, starring Elisabeth Shue,  Steven McQueen www.piranha-3d.co.kr

8. Predators (us)–d. Nimrod Antal, starring Adrian Brody, Topher Grace www.foxkorea.co.kr/predators

9. Solanin (jp)– d. Takahiro Miki, starring Aoi Miyazaki, Kengo Kora

10. Wicker Man (us/de)– d. Neol Lebute, starring Nicholas Cage, Ellen Burstyn

11. You Are Beautiful (kr)– d. Bae Seung-chang & Jang Hye-yeong, starring Kim Ok-yeong, Ha Rim <documentary>