Japanese hit animation “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” enjoyed a 32% surge to move to the top of the Korean box office. It grossed $745,000 over the weekend to expand its cumulative total to $7.74 million in just over four weeks of release.
“Demon Slayer” had not previously topped the Korean chart. But its cumulative total is now solidly the second biggest of any film in Korea this year. Top honors so far in 2021 belong to “Soul,” which has $15.6 million from a cinema run that is one week longer.
“Soul” ranked third over the latest weekend with $663,000, behind second-placed Korean-made, live action film “Mission: Possible,” which split the two animated titles with a $684,000 weekend score. After three weekends, “Mission Possible” is the third biggest film of the year in Korea with a $2.72 million haul, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s KOBIS service.
The other figures are mostly depressing. Aggregate weekend box office was once again under $4 million, coming in at $3.56 million. The top title weighed in at under $1 million, a 32% drop from last week. And new releases failed to penetrate the top three chart ranks.
“Chaos Walking” was the highest-placed with $503,000 over the weekend and $734,000 over five days. “Tom and Jerry” earned $466,000 over the weekend and $681 over five days.
Three other Feb. 24 releases, Korea’s “Go Back,” “The War With Grandpa,” and “The Racer” earned $73,000, $45,000 and $27,000 respectively. STX dark comedy “I Care A Lot,” given a theatrical outing in Korea while playing on Netflix in other territories, managed $29,000 in its third weekend, for a cumulative of $161,000.