A powerful opening by “Black Widow” lifted the South Korean box office to its biggest weekend this year. The Disney-Marvel title dominated proceedings with an 80% market share.
The film launched in Korea on Wednesday and raced far ahead of the competition. According to data from Kobis, the Korean Film Council-operated tracking service, “Black Widow” played on 2,500 screens.
That compared with just 680 screens for “Hard Hit” the Korean thriller that had topped the previous two weekends. “Hard Hit” took a 70% blow, falling from a $2.05 million score to just $597,000. Its cumulative score stands at $7.43 million since release on June 23.
“Black Widow” surpassed that score inside four days. Its five day-total stands at 12.1 million.
The arrival of the superhero franchise title was good news for exhibitors as it strengthens the rising tide of cinemagoing seen throughout June. The weekend box office total was $11.0 million, a healthy jump from the previous weekend’s $6.63 million score.
“Cruella” fell from second place to third, with its weekend take also tumbling from $1.48 million to $538,000. Since release in May, it has accumulated $15.7 million.
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Boding well for a big start, horror film “The Medium” was the weekend’s other sensation. It took fourth place and $421,000 from previews alone. The Korean-Thai co-venture releases officially on Wednesday.
“Cruella” is now the fourth ranking film of the year in Korea, but it is likely to be overtaken by “Black Widow” which is already fifth, after just five days in cinemas. The top spots belong to “F9” with a $19.9 million haul, “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” with $18.0 million and “Soul” on $16.6 million.