The re-released “Titanic” made a strong showing at the Korean box office over the latest weekend. But it was kept in second place by the remarkable performance of “The First Slam Dunk.”
The Japanese animation took top spot for the second successive weekend – its sixth weekend on release, after being held behind another James Cameron movie “Avatar: The Way of Water” for the first four weeks of its career – with a Friday to Sunday score of $2.67 million.
Just as unusual, the film’s weekend gross and its market share continued to grow. A week earlier, it shot $2.3 million. Since release on Jan. 4, the basketball-themed picture has accumulated a gross of $23.2 million.
“Titanic” earned $1.83 million over the weekend proper (i.e. between Friday and Sunday) and $695,000 on Wednesday and Thursday, for a rerelease total of $2.52 million.
“Avatar 2” continued in third place with a weekend score of $837,000. Its cumulative now stands at $107 million since release. That makes it the highest grossing foreign film of all time in Korea, having overtaken the original “Avatar” which made $104 million. However, higher ticket prices today play a factor in that record. The old “Avatar” sold 13.6 million tickets, a figure that is still a significant distance ahead of the sequel’s 10.7 million admissions total.
Korean film, “The Point Men” took fourth place over the weekend with $305,000 for a cumulative of $13.6 million since Jan. 18.
Long-running Korean title “Hero” earned $273,000 in fifth place. That lifted its cumulative to $24.9 million since release on Dec. 2021, 2022.
U.S. title “Babylon” scored an almost identical $273,000 in sixth place. That lifted its cumulative to $1.71 million since release on Feb. 1.
Taiwan fantasy drama “Someday or One Day” placed seventh with $204,000 in its third weekend. That lifted its cumulative to $2.30 million since opening in Korean theaters on Jan. 25.
Art house drama film “Next Sohee,” which had its world premiere in the Critics’ Week section at Cannes last year, debuted in eighth place. It earned $195,000 over the weekend and $297,000 in its first five days of release.
Korea’s “Phantom” earned $168,000 in ninth place. Its cumulative is $5.23 million since release on Jan. 18.
Tenth place belonged to “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” with $154,000 over the weekend. Its cumulative since release on Jan. 4 is $6.14 million.