Avatar Sets the Record

For the first time in 11 years, the biggest movie in Korea is no longer Korean. It looks like AVATAR has finally become the most popular film ever in Korea, topping the admissions for previous record holder THE HOST. 20th Century Fox says that on Sunday, AVATAR reached 13.01 million admissions, making it the biggest selling film ever in Korea.

AVATAR was already the highest-grossing film ever in Korea, due to its higher tickets prices.

My only caveat is that, according to my records, THE HOST had 13.02 million admissions, so it is possible that AVATAR has a few more tickets to sell. But even if that is the case, it is obvious that AVATAR will set the record in a day or two. (UPDATE: My caveat is moot. KOBIS says that AVATAR hit 13.08 million at the end of Sunday).

What is really amazing to me is that AVATAR's 13 million admissions is so much higher than the next-closest foreign film, TRANSFORMERS 2, which had only 7.4 million admissions. That means AVATAR is over 75 percent higher than the next-biggest foreign movie.

Kind of sad, really. For years, the top foreign film in Korea was RETURN OF THE KING, which had its problems, but was mostly a good, epic movie. But TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORMERS 2 and AVATAR? Those are three really crappy movies. I hope a new Korean movie can come along to retake the top spot before too long.