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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2015.11.06 ~ 2015.11.08

Jang Jae-hyeon's "The Priests" clean up at the top...

Jang Jae-hyeon's debut feature film "The Priest" entered at the top of the pile by capturing a domineering 62% of the box office pie over the weekend. The local film made its debut last Thursday, and from the 1,088 screens it was allocated managed to attract over 1.4 million filmgoers. Formerly known as "Black Priests", the film has been lightly compared to the iconic "Exorcist" film, and, more locally, the film conjures up images of Park Chan-wook's bloodly vampire film "Thirst". In "The Priests", Kim Yun-seok and Gang Dong-won play two Catholic priests who become involved in a disturbing mystery the can't forsake.

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"The Priests" arrived to bump last weekend's number one "Fatal Intuition" down two places to third, with Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic, "The Martian", still seated in second. Worldwide, Scott's adaptation has grossed over $458 million, and since its release in Korea early October, the film has attracted the interest of 4.7 million (6.8%) filmgoers and grossed $33.2 million. Yoon Joon-hyeong's thriller "Fatal Intuition" (starring Joo Won and Yoo Hae-jin) managed to entered in first place last weekend with just over 456 thousand admissions but was pushed back to third here having claimed just 145 thousand in week two (6.3%).

Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" also arrived on Korean shores last week and was allocated 425 screens from which to pool. 134 thousand (5.7%) came out to support Spielberg's depiction of a Cold War incident involving a pilot who's downed over Soviet Russia and the lawyer determined to secure his release. John Wells' comedy drama "Burnt" (starring Brad Cooper) followed in fifth with 102 thousand (4.5%) during its first weekend out in Korea, and Kim Bong-joo's "The Phone" tumbled from second place to sixth place with just 71.4 thousand (3%) going its way. Since its released late October, "The Phone" has sold over 1.5 million tickets and banked just over $10.4 million.

Nancy Meyers' "The Intern" with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway fell three places to seventh, attracting 66.4 thousand (2.9%) across 263 screens, while a re-release of Michel Gondry's 2004 romantic comedy "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" came around again to the big screen to the delight of 45.7 thousand (2%). Finally, two new foreign entries closed out the top ten: the French animation "Arthur and the Two Worlds War" (38 thousand at 1.5%), and the American action film by John E. Dowdle, "No Escape", claimed 28 thousand admissions for 1.2% of the pie.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2015.11.06 - 2015.11.08 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "The Priests" (검은 사제들) 2015/11/05 1 406 074 1 604 750
2 "The Martian"   157 550 4 742 125
3 "Fatal Intuition" (그 놈이다) 2015/10/28 145 974 955 726
4 "Bridge of Spies"   133 994 158 730
5 "Burnt"   102 179 124 906
6 "The Phone" (더 폰) 2015/10/22 71 447 1 563 765
7 "The Intern"   66 444 3 540 593
8 "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"   45 731 227 769
9 "Arthur and the Two Worlds War" (Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes)   37 826 38 915
10 "No Escape"   27 891 33 742
Korean movies only  
  "The Exclusive : Beat the Devil's Tattoo" (특종: 량첸살인기) 2015/10/22 3 164 613 410
  "Sorry, I Love You, Thank You" (미안해 사랑해 고마워) 2015/10/29 698 49 582
  "COLLECTIVE INVENTION" (돌연변이) 2015/10/22 603 98 289
  "The Long Way Home" (서부전선) 2015/09/24 523 608 882
  "The Throne" (사도) 2015/09/16 521 6 242 746
  "Accidental Detective" (탐정 : 더 비기닝) 2015/09/24 516 2 624 034
  "Right Now, Wrong Then" (지금은맞고그때는틀리다) 2015/09/24 494 77 049
  "Veteran" (베테랑) 2015/08/05 434 13 411 591
  "The Advocate : A missing body" (성난 변호사) 2015/10/08 406 1 126 387
  "The Liar" (거짓말) 2015/10/29 302 4 813

- C.J. Wheeler (@WoolgatheristKoreaOnTheCouch)

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