Korea Weekend Box Office - July 24-26

The disaster epic HAEUNDAE opened strong last weekend, with 1.5 million admissions over the weekend, and 2 million including its Thursday opening. Not record-breaking numbers, but not bad.

HAEUNDAE is playing at the CGV Yongsan with English subtitles, incidentally.

Otherwise, nothing too amazing to report. HARRY POTTER is doing okay, with 2.5 million admissions over the past couple of weeks. Like the last few Potter films in Korea, it will top 3 million but not 4.

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is poised to become the biggest foreign film ever in Korea, beating the first TRANSFORMERS. But not by much. Like most Hollywood blockbusters here, it just cannot sustain as long as the local hits do. Looks like the film should top 7.5 million admissions, but not 8 million.



UPDATE: The box office chart should get interesting for the next few weeks. Pixar's UP opened already, on Wednesday. I'm interested in how it will do, as Pixar films usually struggle to pull in 1 million admissions in Korea.

And the week after UP is released, GI JOE hits the theaters, starring Korea's own Lee Byung-hun.

Btw, also opening this weekend is the Japanese film FISH STORY. I saw it in Udine in April and quite enjoyed it. I doubt it will have English subtitles in the theaters, but if I hear otherwise, I will let you know.

Also, Cine 21's website is saying NEW MOON, the Twilight sequel, will open in Korea on Dec. 10. This is apropo of nothing... I just thought some random Twilight comment might help boost my hits.

Korea Weekend Box Office - July 17-19

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	7.15	829	8.21	11.47
2.	Chaw	7.15	531	3.64	4.85
3.	Transformers 2	6.24	571	2.19	48.17
4.	Bronze Medalist (Kingkongeul Deulda - Korean)	7.01	390	1.24	7.29
5.	Running Turtle (Geobuki Dallinda - Korean)	6.11	357	0.68	20.20
6.	Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006	7.15	179	0.48	0.51
7.	Juon	7.09	208	0.27	1.96
8.	Five Senses of Eros (Ogamdo - Korean)	7.09	353	0.26	2.72
9.	Arthur and the Invisibles	7.09	192	0.068	0.77
10.	Haeundae - Korean (preview)	7.23	19	0.046	0.071

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

From a Nappeun Namja to a Nappeun Gajok

Okay, this is one of the stranger things I have read about in some time -- the Chosun Ilbo is reporting that when Rain performed a concert in Macau at the end of June, in the audience was Kim Jong-il's grandson.

That makes me wonder if he was also on-hand for the filming of BOYS OVER FLOWERS, when they had those Macau episodes. Maybe Kim Jong-il's grandson was an extra? Oh Korean Wave, is there anything you can't do?

Bloody Good Fun

So why didn't anyone at Wild Side Films or Park Chan-wook's company send me one of these?

Korea Weekend Box Office - July 10-12

Okay, this box office chart is a week late. Many apologies.

As you can see, TRANSFORMERS 2 is still king of the mountain here in Korea, although it is finally slowing down a little -- "just" 900,000 admissions last weekend to bring its total to 6.6 million, or 44.63 billion won ($35.1 million). I do not think the new HARRY POTTER film is going to do very well in Korea (not in comparison to its North America numbers), but it should still be strong enough to send TRANSFORMERS 2 into second place.

The next three films were all Korean, so there is some robustness for local films, despite this being the middle of Hollywood's best season.

And CHAW, the comic-horror film, was in 10th, despite not officially opening until the 16th.

And a fairly international crop this week, as we have the latest JUON (Japan) film in fifth, ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES (France) in sixth, and MISSING LYNX (Spain) in eighth. The Italian film THE UNKNOWN WOMAN was 12th, followed by France's LET IT RAIN.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Transformer 2	6.24	873	6.24	44.63
2.	Bronze Medalist (Kingkongeul Deulda - Korean)	7.01	463	1.90	5.19
3.	Running Turtle (Geobuki Dallinda- Korean	6.11	379	1.64	18.89
4.	Five Senses of Eros (Ogamdo - Korean)	7.09	403	1.59	1.96
5.	Juon - Here We Go Again	7.09	208	1.12	1.34
6.	Arthur and the Invisibles	7.09	285	0.59	0.65
7.	Blood Pledge (Yeogo Goedam 5 - Korean)	6.18	209	0.18	4.07
8.	Missing Lynx	6.24	103	0.085	0.76
9.	Night at the Museum 2	6.04	85	0.083	12.39
10.	Chau - Korean	7.15	38	0.031	0.059

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

Stream of Consciousness

A fun story in the New York Times about the "unearthing" of city rivers... citing Seoul and the Cheonggyecheon as a prime example.

Actually, I thought Seoul modeled its restoration of the Cheonggyecheon on San Antonio... but I could be wrong.

Swamped...

Apologies for the lack of updates, but I am really swamped at the moment. I hope to have something interesting up in a couple of days...