“Spiral: From The Book of Saw” carved out the top spot at the South Korean box office over the weekend. But it was a thin slice of a painfully quiet weekend.
Korea’s aggregate nationwide box office was just $2.60 million, almost unchanged from last week and within a whisker of being the smallest weekend total in three months. While international titles are now returning to the releasing calendar, audiences continue to stay away in what used to be the world’s fourth largest theatrical market.
“Spiral,” a newly-released horror franchise sequel earned $551,000 for a 21% share of the market, ahead of “The Courier” in second place and last week’s winner “The Croods: A New Age” in third. The Courier” dropped only 19% in its third weekend, scoring $316,000 for a cumulative of $2.31 since its debut in April 28, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service. “The Croods” dropped 30% from its first weekend to a second weekend score of $264,000. Its cumulative is $1.62 million.
“Spiral” earned its top spot having played on 688 screens, giving a per screen average of just $800 over the three days of the weekend. Its five-day cumulative is $780,000.
Japanese animation film “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” held on in fourth place with a $254,000 weekend haul that advanced its cumulative to $17.7 million. The film, released on Jan. 27, now has the distinction of being only the second title this year to sell more than two million tickets in Korea.
Minor places went to new release Korean films “My Lovely Angel” which earned $141,000 in five days for ninth position over the weekend, and “In The Name of The Son,” which earned $117,000 in five days and arrived in tenth spot.