Local Industry Awaits Lunar New Year Comeback

As no major new releases were available to boost sales, business at the Korean box office slowed again with admissions dipping just over 25% down to 524,000. The local market was also down slightly to 31%. Both figures should see meteoric rises this coming weekend as Lunar New Year titles look to take advantage of holiday business.

Marvel’s hit Spider-Man: No Way Home claimed the top spot for the sixth weekend on the trot, a rare feat not seen since the local period drama hit Masquerade (2012) spent six weeks on top of the charts a decade ago following its Chuseok holiday bow. 

The comicbook movie continues to be driven by strong word of mouth and a lack of competition as it slowed just 6%, recoding 162,000 entries (USD 1.22 million) over the weekend. The film has so far welcomed 7.17 million viewers (USD 60.23 million), far and away the highest total seen during the pandemic to date.

After spending two weeks in third place, the Hollywood animation Sing 2 rose to second after a slight 20% dip. The sequel added 108,000 spectators (USD 862,000) to raise its haul to 665,000 admissions (USD 5.13 million).

Down a spot and a 45% during its sophomore spin on the charts was the local action-thriller Special Delivery. The Park Sodam-starring film added 89,000 sales (USD 744,000) over the weekend, with 394,000 entries (USD 3.19 million) counted to date.

Flat in fourth but down 37% was fellow local crime drama The Policeman’s Lineage. Starring Cho Jinwoong and Choi Wooshik, the film filled an additional 57,000 seats (USD 491,000), pushing its total to 657,000 admissions (USD 5.43 million).

Rising up to fifth place in its second week was Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. Down 52%, the film brought in 20,000 viewers (USD 170,000) for a running total of 108,000 spectators (USD 892,000).

Spider-Man will finally have to call it a day this coming weekend as holdovers will make room for a pair of major new local releases timed for the forthcoming Lunar New Year holidays. The period-action film The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure is currently leading the charts with election drama Kingmaker not far behind.