Fact-based action drama “12.12: The Day” won a fourth weekend at the South Korea box office and became the second highest grossing film of the year.
The political thriller incurred a steep week-on-week drop in takings, managing only $5.89 million in its fourth weekend, compared with $11.4 million in its third. But it still hogged a 72% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).
After releasing on Nov. 22, the film now has a cumulative box office of $62.9 million earned from 8.50 million ticket sales. That total means it has overtaken “Elemental” to become the number two film of the year in Korea. The year-to-dater table is still lead by behind summer hit “The Roundup: No Way Out,” with $80.3 million earned from 10.7 million spectators.
The reduced pace of the frontrunner brought the nationwide weekend box office total to a more humdrum $8.18 million, after three weekends above $10 million. Still, that is better than seven of the previous ten weekends in a difficult late autumn-early winter period.
“Our Season” placed second in the latest weekend chart with $512,000 in its second weekend of release. After 12 days of exploitation, it has accumulated $2.81 million. The film is a fantasy drama about a woman temporarily brought back from the dead and who tries to fix her daughter’s unhappy life.
Korean-made children’s animation “Pororo Popstar Adventure” was the weekend’s highest-ranking new release. It earned $398,000 over the weekend and $762,000 over its full five-day opening.
Japanese drama “Monster,” by Kore-eda Hirokazu, took fourth place a the Korean box office over the weekend. It earned $226,000 for a cumulative total of $2.00 million.
U.S.-made slasher movie “Saw X” placed fifth in Korea on its opening weekend. It earned $164,000 over the weekend and $324,000 over its five-day debut.
“Napoleon” earned $125,000 in its second weekend of release, putting it sixth. After 12 days of release in Korea, it has accumulated $1.53 million.
Newly-released Japanese drama film “Our Secret Diary” earned $134,000 on it opening weekend in Korea. Over a period of five days, it amassed $252,000.
Period action film “Noryang: Deadly Sea” is set to release on Dec. 20, but appeared in the latest weekend chart in eighth place thanks to widespread previews. It earned 126,000 over the weekend and has a total of $176,000 in the bank.
Tail enders “Single in Seoul” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” earned $107,000 and $67,000 respectively. “Freddy’s” has earned $5.23 million since releasing in Korea nearly five weeks ago.
