Korea Box Office: ‘I, the Executioner’ Achieves $50 Million Total as ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ Makes Second Place Debut

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Korean-made crime-comedy-thriller “I, The Executioner,” a sequel to 2015 hit ‘Veteran,” continued its spree at the top of the South Korea weekend box office. It earned $1.68 million in its fourth full weekend session, ahead of top-ranked new release “Joker: Folie a Deux.”

“I, The Executioner” saw its market share slip to 29%, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The latest weekend increment gives the film a $49.97 million running total since releasing on Sept. 13. That makes it the fourth highest grossing film of the year in the country, behind “Exhuma,” “The Roundup: Punishment” and “Inside Out 2,” which is still some distance ahead on $64 million.

“Joker: Folie a Deux” opened with $1.17 million between Friday and Sunday and achieved a 21% market share, according to Kobis. Over its full five-day opening run, which included Thursday’s National Foundation Day public holiday, it accumulated $3.60 million.

Released the same day (Oct. 1), Korean-produced “Love in the Big City” earned $897,000 over the weekend and $1.88 million over five days. The drama stars Kim Go-eun, star of “Exhuma” and TV hits “Cheese in the Trap” and “Yumi’s Cells.”

Another new release, “The Wild Robot” was the highest ranked of five animated films in this week’s top ten. It earned $741,000 over the weekend and $1.69 million over its five opening days.

“Transformers One,” the previous weekend’s highest opener, slipped to fifth place. It earned $251,000 for a total of $2.16 million.

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“Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper” earned $152,000 for sixth place. Having opened on Thursday, it earned $412,000 over four days.

The re-released “Begin Again” came seventh. It earned $127,000 over the weekend for a cumulative including its 2014 first run of $21.7 million.

“Heartsping: Teenieping of Love” continued to make its case as the highest grossing Korean-made animation film of all time. Over the weekend it earned $118,000 for a cumulative of $7.91 million earned since Aug. 3.

“Lim Young Woong: IM Hero The Stadium took ninth slot by virtue of its premium-priced tickets. The concert film earned $94,500 for a running total of $6.63 million.

Tenth place went to new release Japanese animation “Butt Detective the Movie Farewell, My Lovely Partner, Butt Detective.” It earned $62,900 over the weekend and $226,000 over five days.

Overall weekend cinema revenues were disappointing at $5.54 million. By a narrow margin, that was the second slowest weekend of the year.

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