Sales Remain Strong Despite Toughened Social Distancing Regulations

Though still a far cry from where it would normally be in the mid-summer season, the Korean box office remained resilient after slowing down 25% from last week, despite the Greater Seoul area, which accounts for half of the industry’s receipts, seeing the toughened Level 4 social distancing restrictions going into effect. 941,000 tickets were sold over the weekend, with 36% of those claimed by locally produced fare.

Following a big start last week, the latest Marvel entry Black Widow slowed just 54%, despite the stronger COVID regulations. The film added 445,000 entries (USD 4.06 million) to its coffers, boosting its total to 2.14 million admissions (USD 19.05 million). Within a matter of days, the Disney film will become the highest-grossing foreign film of the pandemic in the local market.

The Korean-Thai co-produced horror film The Medium, directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun in Thailand and produced by Director Na Hongjin and based on his idea, topped the charts during its opening two days but had to relinquish the spot to Black Widow over the weekend, during which it charted second with 305,000 entries (USD 2.83 million). Over five days, the horror film welcomed 558,000 spectators (USD 5.06 million). Though the film has found favor with local critics, audiences have been largely divided, and the title is already losing steam on the charts.

Horror-thriller sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions kicked off its run in third place with 79,000 sales (USD 693,000) over the weekend and 112,000 seats (USD 972,000) filled since its Wednesday debut.

Disney hit Cruella was down 48% and claimed fourth place during its eighth weekend on the charts. With 31,000 additional sales (USD 279,000), the film has now reached 1.91 million admissions (USD 16.24 million).

Hanging on in the top five was the local action film HARD HIT, which dropped 74% during its fourth weekend, with 18,000 entries (USD 150,000) counted. The CJ Entertainment film has brought in 935,000 viewers (USD 7.81 million) to date.

Currently leading the reservation chart is the Hollywood animation Boss Baby: Family Business, though Black Widow will give it a run for its money over the coming weekend.