Smugglers, a female-led crime caper directed by Ryu Seung-wan, has continued to dominate the South Korean box office for its second consecutive weekend. The film maintained a strong hold, commanding 42% of the market share and raking in $7.09 million. This represents only a 20% drop from its opening weekend, bringing its total earnings to $26.2 million in just 12 days.
In second place, new release Ransomed, a 1980s-set drama thriller set in Lebanon, opened with a solid debut. The film follows the story of a low-ranking Korean diplomat who embarks on a heroic mission to rescue a kidnapped official. It earned $3.34 million over the weekend and $5.19 million during its full five-day opening run.
Despite the competition from these highly anticipated films, Elemental, an animated feature from Pixar, held steady in third place. It brought in $2.26 million over the weekend, accumulating a total of $47.5 million. This makes it the second highest grossing film of the year in Korea, surpassing popular Japanese animated titles like Suzume and The First Slam Dunk. Furthermore, Elemental made history as the first animated film to sell over six million tickets in the country since the release of Frozen.
The Moon, a sci-fi action adventure directed by Kim Yong-hwa, debuted in fourth place with earnings of $1.51 million over the weekend and $2.86 million during its opening five days. The film revolves around an astronaut returning for a rescue mission after a failed Korean space mission.
Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I dropped from third to fifth place in its fourth weekend. It managed to earn $1.03 million, accumulating a total of $29.7 million since its release on July 12.
Although Korean titles have recently shown signs of recovery, their market share remains relatively low for the year. In June, Korean films accounted for 65% of the market share, but the figure plummeted to 23% in July. August has seen a slight improvement with the success of Smugglers, The Moon, and Ransomed, contributing to local titles capturing 70% of the Korean market. However, the overall year-to-date market share for Korean films stands at only 35%.
Beyond the top five films, no other title managed to secure earnings surpassing $1 million over the weekend. Detective Conan The Movie: Black Iron Submarine, a Japanese anime, earned $273,000, reaching a total of $4.97 million. European animation film Monster Family 2 opened in seventh place, generating $259,000 during the weekend and $458,000 in its first five days of release. Barbie fell to eighth place in its third weekend, accumulating $276,000 and a total of $3.88 million. The film’s underperformance in Korea has been attributed to cultural views on feminism in the country’s patriarchal society.
Rounding out the top ten, Insidious: The Red Door earned $85,800, reaching a total of $3.07 million, while the Chinese film My Love earned $81,000.
