“The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure” ran off with nearly half the weekend bullion at the South Korea box office. On its heels was political drama-thriller “Kingmaker,” as local titles finally overthrew the long-running “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ahead of a public holiday.
Most South Koreans will enjoy two consecutive public holidays on Monday (“Seotdal Geumeum” or New Year’s Eve) and Tuesday (Lunar New Year), meaning that the Friday to Sunday weekend was the first part of a five-day holiday season.
The three-day nationwide box office total was $5.58 million. The figure is an improvement on the previous weekend, but it was also lower than the first three weekends in January. And box office in Korea remains far behind equivalent weekends in pre-COVID times. Considering that the chart was headed by two strongly-anticipated local titles, the weekend upturn barely deflects from a continuing weak outlook.
“The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure” took 48% of the nationwide theatrical box office with its Friday to Sunday haul of $2.68 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service of the Korean Film Council (Kofic). In the five days since its Wednesday release, the film has accumulated $3.85 million. The action-adventure-comedy is a star-studded sequel to 2014 hit “The Pirates” that earned $54.8 million.
“Kingmaker,” a drama which charts political machinations in the late 29th century, earned $1.43 million or 36% of the nationwide total. Over its initial five-day run, “Kingmaker” has amassed $2.04 million.
“Spider-Man” lost its six-week top spot and was reduce to less than a 10% share of the weekend aggregate. It earned $537,000 for a stellar $60.3 million cumulative since release on Dec. 15, 2021.
“Sing 2” in its fourth weekend of release earned $330,000 in fourth place. It has now accumulated $5.64 million.
Fifth place belonged to a third Korean new release title. Animation, “Hello Jadoo: The Secret of Jeju Island” earned $239,000 over the weekend and $283,00 in the four days from its Thursday release.