Korea Weekend Box Office - Jan. 23-25

John Woo's RED CLIFF 2 became the first foreign film to top the box office this year, taking in $2.1 million over the weekend, or about 590,000 admissions since opening on Thursday. While that seems okay, those numbers are down a bit from the first RED CLIFF, which had about 800,000 admissions over its opening.

Looks like Tom Cruise's PR blitz in Korea paid off, as his VALKYRIE opened in second, with 2.6 billion won ($2.0 million).

Nos. 3-5 all went to Korean films, led by the new movie CITY OF DAMNATION (nice English title), the Korean comic version of INFERNAL AFFAIRS. In fourth was the big hit of season, SCANDAL MAKERS, which was now made 44 billion won (about $32 million), followed by A FROZEN FLOWER, which is now at 23 billion won ($17 million).

Oh, in case you were wondering, SCANDAL MAKERS is now the most successful comedy in Korean history, having overtaken 200 POUND BEAUTY. Looks like SCANDAL is going to become the first Korean comedy to top 7 million admissions, too.

The only other Korean film was way down in 10th, the little film MY OLD PARTNER, about a man and his ox.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Red Cliff 2	1.22	522	2.90	3.79
2.	Valkyrie	1.22	479	2.05	2.64
3.	City of Damnation (Yugamseureoun Dosi - Korean)	1.22	500	1.66	2.21
4.	Scandal Makers (Gwasok Seukaendeul - Korean)	12.04	333	1.03	43.88
5.	A Frozen Flower (Ssanghwajeom - Korean)	12.30	378	0.60	22.48
6.	Changeling	1.22	206	0.37	0.46
7.	Madagascar 2	1.08	319	0.33	5.85
8.	Bedtime Stories	1.22	249	0.26	0.33
9.	Transporter 3	1.08	245	0.12	5.71
10.	Old Partner (Wonang Sori - Korean)	1.15	23	0.056	0.15

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

With foreign films occupying the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, Korean movies are now accounting for about 48 percent of the box office in 2009 -- down a bit from last week, but much stronger than most people would have predicted a couple of months ago.