Time traveling-fantasy-adventure movie “Alienoid 2” was a comfortable winner at the South Korea box office over the weekend. But with few fresh films on release the cinema-going market slowed.
“Alienoid 2” earned $2.06 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was down by 42% compared with its opening session a week earlier and leaves it with a total of $7.96 million after 12 days on release.
The first instalment of “Alienoid” was one of the biggest flops of 2022. It opened brightly with a $5.19 million weekend in July that year. But it suffered terrible reviews and finished with just $12.2 million.
Whether the second part does better than the first may be a matter of market timing and competition. January is usually a quiet month in Korean cinemas and the lack of blockbuster titles competing for screen space may help “Alienoid 2.”
The overall market over the latest weekend took a 34% tumble to just $6.04 million, the kind of figure seen only on the weakest weekends of 2023.
All three weekends so far this year have seen box office below the comparable sessions in 2023. But the beginning of last year was swelled by the impact of the “Avatar 2,” which does not make it a typical comparison.
Over the latest weekend, “Wish” remained in second place. It earned $968,000 for a total of $8.72 million since releasing in Korea on Jan. 3.
“12.12: The Day,” the biggest film of 2023, earned $688,000 and retained third place over the weekend. It now has a cumulative of $94.6 million since releasing on Nov. 22.
“Migration” climbed a place to fourth spot. It earned $473,000 over the weekend, for a cumulative of $1.69 million after 12 days of release. It overtook the older “Noryang: Deadly Sea,” which slipped to fifth. Over the latest weekend “Noryang” earned $452,000 for a five-weekend total of $33.3 million.
Japanese animation “New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers – Flying Sushi” held on to sixth place. Its weekend score was $246,000, lifting its cumulative total to $6.34 million.
“Citizen of a Kind,” a drama by Park Young-jo which opens officially on Wednesday, took seventh place in the chart from preview screenings alone. It earned $165,000 over the weekend and has recorded $220,000 to date.
Political documentary, “Kim Dae Jung On the Road” earned $148,000 in its second weekend of release. It now has a running score of $668,000.
“Dumb Money,” the U.S. financial drama about meme stock GameStop and the antics of Roaring Kitty, was the highest placed film to open officially over the weekend. It earned $99,000 over the weekend and $174,000 over its opening five days.
Japanese drama film “Monster” has been in the charts since late November. Over the latest weekend, it earned $74,000 for a cumulative of $3.51 million.
