Korea Weekend Box Office - March 9-11

Well. This week's box office could have been posted three hours ago. But as I was compiling it, I was confronted by the question: "What the heck is SMOKIN' ACES?" Never heard of the film. A quick Metacritic search later and I had my answer: A dumb mobster/hitman movie, starring Jeremy Piven. Lots of guns and insubstantial style and, again, dumbness. So I did a quick check on the Internet and discovered a screening was starting in 20 minutes near my house. I went. I saw.

I was mildly amusing, but not as much as I had hoped. I am still relying on 300 to slake the violence-loving-nerd beast within. In the meantime, I am back from the theater, ready to report on the top-10.

Anyhow, leading the box this week, once again, is MUSIC AND WORDS BY, now having earned about $4 million since its release. At least it lead this box office report. KOBIS had the No. 1 spot going to THE ILLUSIONIST (like SMOKIN' ACES, lots of technique and style, but rather dumb). But on this chart, THE ILLUSIONIST was No. 2.

In general, not a lot happening on this chart. MIRACLE ON 1ST STREET had now sold over 2.5 million tickets, making it a solid (although not spectacular) hit. Even YOBI: THE FIVE-TAILED FOX made a mini-surge, rising to 12th this week (up from 19th last week), having now topped 458,000 admissions.

Look for lots more excitement next week, as oodles of new releases hit the screens. Will 300 be as big a surprise in Korea was it was in North America last weekend (where it made $70 million)? I doubt it. But I know I will be sending at least $7 to Warner Bros.

This Week	Title........................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Attendance (Seoul only)	Total Attendance
1.	Music and Lyrics By	2.28	136	87,400	609,900
2.	The Illusionist	3.08	242	73,900	255,300
3.	Pursuit of Happiness	2.28	140	55,000	482,300
4.	Miracle on 1st Street	2.14	274	44,000	2,551,000
5.	Dreamgirls	2.22	114	44,000	650,000
6.	Smokin' Aces	3.08	136	33,000	111,000
7.	Highway Star	2.14	237	20,100	1,601,700
8.	Shim's Family	3.01	168	18,500	290,500
9.	Hannibal Rising	2.28	182	12,900	247,500
10.	Hoola Girls	3.01	69	5,000	45,000

(Source: Film2.0)