Korea Box Office: ‘Wish’ Wins Opening Weekend as ‘Noryang: Deadly Sea’ Passes $30 Million
Disney animation film, “Wish” topped the South Korean box office on its opening weekend. It toppled local epic “Noryang: Deadly Sea,” which had dominated over Christmas and New Year.
“Wish,” which has slowly been rolling out worldwide since a late November start in North America, made a respectable $3.29 million debut between Friday and Sunday according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). After five days on release in Korea, it has garnered $4.57 million.
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“Noryang,” which released on Dec. 20, took a steep decline of 66% in its third weekend but still retained second place in the weekend chart. It earned $2.03 million, for a cumulative total of $31.3 million.
“12.12: The Day,” the political thriller that finished 2023 as the year’s top-grossing title, earned another $1.99 million in third place over the latest weekend. Since releasing on Nov. 23, it has amassed a total of $93.1 million and been seen by 12.5 million people.
Aggregate weekend box office was $9.22 million. That was down from the holiday season, but a respectable total for a normal January weekend. (This time last year “Avatar: The Way of Water” reigned.)
The top three accounted for 80% of the weekend’s total revenues and behind the leading trio, there was a substantial gap in earnings. Fourth place belonged to “New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan The Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers – Flying Sushi” with $568,000 in its third weekend of release. Its cumulative total since Dec. 22 is now $5.52 million.
“Aquaman The Lost Kingdom” remained soggy. It earned $316,000 in its third weekend for a 19-day total of $6.60 million.
“The First Slam Dunk,” the hit Japanese animation which was first released on Jan. 4 a year ago, re-entered the chart in sixth place. It earned $173,000 pushing its cumulative total to $38.4 million.
Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Monster” earned $156,000 for a cumulative of $3.21 million since its late November start in Korean theaters. “Trolls Band Together” earned $117,000 for a cumulative of $2.79 million since its release on Dec. 20.
Local animation film “Pororo Popstar Adventure” earned $98,500 in ninth place. After four weekends, its box office total is $2.5 million. Tenth place belonged to another animation, “Octonauts Above & Beyond” which took $47,000 for a two-weekend total of $377,000.
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