[HanCinema's Film Review] Korean Weekend Box Office 2012.09.07 ~ 2012.09.09

HanCinema's Korean Box Office Review 

(2012.09.07~ 2012.09.09)

Tony Gilroy's "The Bourne Legacy" marks the first foreign film at number one since "The Dark Knight Rises" at the end of July. The peak of the Korean summer has bee dominated by local releases, but not this weekend. With close on 30% of the ticket sales going to Gilroy's popular action thriller, "The Bourne Legacy" snapped up the ticket sales with 523,776 admissions in 588 screenings around the country. Last week's top pick was demoted to second, as Kim Hong-seon's "The Traffickers" had to settle for 303,537 and second place.

"The Traffickers" now sits on a total of 1,316,634 admissions since its release two weeks ago, almost being outdone by another Hollywood sequel: "The Expendables 2". Riding off the coat tails of some the most iconic cinema heroes and anti-heroes, "The Expendables 2" boasts some bigs names when it comes to action flicks. In its opening weekend on the peninsula that film collected 241,415 (13.3%) admissions and was closely followed by last week's number two "Neighbors" by Kim Hwi.

"The Grand Heist" also fell a couple of places, slipping from last week's number two film to this weekend's number five. This historical comedy has already amassed a very healthy 4,834,100 admissions, despite never quite being able to step up to the number one. At number six is the hottest film of the year so far "The Thieves" with 12,837,050 admissions in the bank. Kim Ki-duk has done it again with his new film "Pieta" which recently walked away with the top prize from the Venice Film Festival. It was awarded the "Golden Lion" and this is the first time a Korean director has managed such a accomplishment. Kim Ki-duk's awarding winning film sold 58,468 tickets in its home country over the course of its first weekend out in circuit.

At number eight is "Step Up Revolution 4" with 45,473 (2.5%), it has been five weeks on the top ten for this one and during that time it has managed to almost crack the million admissions mark. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" falls four places to settle at number nine, and the top ten a rounded out by the Belgium animations "Sammy's Adventures 2" which now has 1,454,392 as a result of its six weeks out in Korea.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2012.09.07 - 2012.09.09 (www.kobis.or.kr)