Korea Weekend Box Office - Aug. 14-16 (Penultimate Edition)

Sorry this chart is so late (again). Too much work going on these days, I guess.

Topping the box office last weekend was the ski jump film TAKE OFF, with 6.61 billion won ($5.29 million). Oddly, that is by far the best weekend the film has had since it was released three weeks ago -- it opened to 5.01 billion won, then dropped to 4.98 billion won the next week. I guess people are getting tired of HAEUNDAE, but still want to see something home-grown. Maybe the holiday and the nasty heat helped, too.

Anyhow, TAKE OFF has now made 28.27 billion won ($22.6 million) and pulled in 4.0 million admissions since it was released -- a solid hit, with the potential to grow into something bigger. Topping 5-million admissions (as it seems sure to do) is always impressive.

HAEUNDAE may be slowing down, but it is still doing well -- 7.23 billion won last weekend to bring its total to 64.4 billion won ($51.5 million). With 9.1 million admissions (including 865,000 last weekend), HAEUNDAE is now the fifth-biggest film ever in Korea, and certain to pass the 10-million mark.

GI JOE continues to do surprisingly well, with another 3.4 billion won last weekend, for a total of 13.2 billion won ($10.6 million).

ICE AGE 3 had a rather soft opening, with just 2.39 billion won over the weekend. PUBLIC ENEMY did even worse, with 1.54 billion won.

I do not know anything about the Korean film BULSIN JIOK, which opened in sixth. But there it is.

People must not have liked ONE MILLION at all, as it is dropping like a stone.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Revenue (bil. won)	Total Revenue (bil. won)
1.	Take Off (Gukga Daepyo - Korean)	7.29	678	6.61	28.27
2.	Haeundae (Korean)	7.23	638	6.26	64.44
3.	GI Joe	8.06	488	3.40	13.20
4.	Ice Age 3	8.12	461	2.39	3.11
5.	Public Enemy	8.12	375	1.54	2.15
6.	Bulsin Jiok (Korean)	8.12	291	0.84	1.20
7.	Up	7.29	251	0.38	7.00
8.	Summer Wars	8.12	118	0.36	0.46
9.	Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser	7.30	133	0.30	3.86
10.	One Million (10 Ok - Korean)	8.06	240	0.31	2.92

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