Korean drama Firefighters rose to the highest of the native field workplace this weekend, regardless of a swell of political controversy linked to the director’s brother.
The movie opened on December 4 and ranked second after its first weekend however has climbed to the highest on its second outing, taking $4.38m from simply over 657,000 admissions and a 41.9% market share from Friday to Sunday (December 13-15). The 17% uptick in gross sales from its opening weekend has introduced its cume to $11.7m, in response to Kobis, the Korean Movie Council’s field workplace monitoring service.
Consciousness of the movie has risen because the brother of director Kwak Kyung-taek is Kwak Gyu-taek, a member of South Korea’s Individuals Energy Social gathering (PPP), who did not attend a latest parliamentary vote to question President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The transfer led to criticism of the movie by affiliation – the most recent in a long-running string of challenges confronted by the function, whose launch was initially delayed by the pandemic earlier than being pushed once more within the wake of a drunk-driving scandal involving lead actor Kwak Do-won.
Its gross sales have additionally been bolstered by the movie’s pledge to donate KW119 (roughly $0.08) per ticket to the Nationwide Fireplace Hospital, which is about to open in Korea subsequent yr.
Starring Ju-won, Kwak Do-won of The Wailing, and Yoo Jae-myung from Harbin, the movie honours the heroic efforts of first responders throughout the 2001 Hongje-dong arson hearth, and 6 individuals who died within the incident.
Moana 2, which led final weekend, secured second place with $2.6m. Now in its third weekend, the movie is closing on $18m, surpassing its 2016 prequel and changing into the seventh highest-grossing movie of 2024 in South Korea thus far.
Depraved took third place with $934,000, sustaining the place for a 3rd consecutive week. Since its November 20 launch, the movie has earned a cume of $11.8m.
Korean comedy About Household debuted in fourth with $653,000, marking the return of director Wooseok Yang, greatest recognized for his Metal Rain sequence and The Legal professional. The solid is led by Kim Yoon-seok of Mogadishu and Netflix’s The Frog, who performs the proprietor of a dumpling restaurant mourning the grandchildren he’ll by no means have as his son decides to change into a monk. The comedy unfolds when two youngsters seem, claiming the monk is their father.
Native sports activities drama One Win ranked fifth with $255,000, a 60% drop from its opening weekend. Parasite star Tune Kang-ho performs the loser coach of an underdog girls’s volleyball group.
In sixth place, Hidden Face, a mystery-thriller now in its third weekend, earned $241,000. Simply behind with $237,000 was The Substance, the satirical horror that performed in Competitors at Cannes, the place it received greatest screenplay for author/director Coralie Fargeat.
An IMAX re-release for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar earned $190,000. The movie was launched as a part of an “IMAX Masterpiece” assortment, which additionally included Dune and Dunkirk.
First Girl, a well timed documentary about Kim Gun-hee, the spouse of the lately suspended President Yoon, secured $183,000 in its restricted screenings. Overlaying controversies of corruption, forgery, and inventory manipulation surrounding South Korea’s first girl, the movie bought out at almost 40 theatres, with plans to increase its screenings subsequent week.
Rounding out the highest ten was the re-release of 2021’s Jujutsu Kaise 0 with $125,000.
Trying to subsequent week, Harbin leads pre-sales with 33.1% of tickets bought forward of its launch on December 24.
