2016.05.13 ~ 2016.05.15

Na Hong-jin's new thriller trumps Marvel's "Civil War"...

Na Hong-jin's much-anticipated new mystery thriller, "The Wailing" (starringKwak Do-won,Hwang Jeong-min, andCheon Woo-hee), arrived in theaters last Thursday and over the weekend rose to the top of the chart by dislodging "Captain America: Civil War" and so denied Marvel's latest a third straight week in pole position.Na Hong-jin's two previous films ("The Yellow Sea"and"The Chaser") received critical acclaim when they came out in 2010 and 2008 respectively, and his third film enjoyed a promising start by amassing 1.8 million admissions (64%) across 1,481 screens.

Last weekend's number one, Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War", was, as a resulted, forced to settled in second with its 537.6 thousand admissions (19.2%), bringing its total tally now to an impressive 8.2 million ($58.6 million). Around the world, "Civil War" has continued to please superhero fans and is fast approaching a billion dollars (currently $940 million). With 300 thousand fewer admissions cameJo Sung-hee's "Phantom Detective" starringLee Je-hoon,Kim Seong-gyoonandPark Geun-hyeong. Since its released earlier this month, "Phantom Detective" has amassed 1.2 million admissions ($8.3 million).

Fourth place was claimed by another new entry in the form of the first half of the final chapter in the popular "Divergent" science fiction series from America: "The Divergent Series: Allegiant". From the 392 screens allocated to Robert Schwentke's film, "Allegiant" captured 2% of the box office pie with 59.7 thousand admissions. The South Korean animation "Theatrical Cut - HelloJadu" bySon Seok-woofell two places to find itself in fifth place with 43 thousand stubs, and sixth place went to "My New Sassy Girl" byJo Geun-sik: the sequel to the iconic 2001 comedy bykwak Jae-Yong,"My Sassy Girl".Jo Geun-sik's film (which starsCha Tae-hyeonandVictoria) garnered the support of 38.5 thousand filmgoers (1.3%) across 385 screens.

The Taiwanese film "Our Times" also arrived last Thursday. It was allocated 128 screens and from them ended its first weekend with 26.5 thousand admissions in the bag. Disney's "Zootopia", remember it's been out in Korea since mid-February, had more screens that "Our Times", but its age is showing as it only managed to add an additional 19.9 thousand stubs. This brings its total admissions in Korea now to a cool 4.6 million, or $31.4 million.

The top ten for the third weekend of May was rounded out by the British documentary "Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet" and China's "The Magic Brush". Last weekend, the BBC's dino-documentary occupied sixth with 47.5 thousand admissions sold; this weekend, however, saw it slump to ninth place with only 13.3 thousand (0.4%), bringing its bottom line in Korea to 106 thousand. Lastly, The Chinese film "The Magic Brush" found itself at the bottom of the top ten with 13.1 thousand, this after having occupied fourth place last weekend where it managed to capture almost 70 thousand admissions. Since its release in Korea at the beginning of May, "The Magic Brush" has banked just over a million dollars in Korea alone.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.05.13 - 2016.05.15 (www.kobis.or.kr)

-Chris Wheeler