2014.08.08 ~ 2014.08.10

Kim's "Admiral" surpasses 10M in record time…

Kim Han-min's cinematic celebration of the legendary Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin continued its record-breaking form as it powered past the 10 million admissions mark with ease. Over this past weekend Kim's period epic claimed over 2.5M stubs (58.8%) over 1,335 screens to become the fastest Korean film to reach that milestone, and now stands as the tenth highest grossing Korean film of all time. The film depicts Yi Sun-sin's famous victory at the Battle of Myeongnyang where, against all odds, he defeated the Japanese navy on the Myeongnyang Strait by forcing the Japanese fleet into the narrow pass and made strategic use of the straights strong and shifting currents."The Admiral: Roaring Currents"now has a total tally of 10.7M admissions ($81.1M); an incredible achievement considering the film was only released on the 30^thof last month.

2014 has already seen a host of period pieces come and go, the latest of which was released last week in the form ofLee Seok-hoon's adventure flick"Pirates". The film starsKim Nam-gil,Son Ye-jin,Yoo Hae-jin,Lee Kyeong-yeong,Oh Dal-sooin a Chosun-style chase to recover a royal seal from the belly of a whale. Despite the record-breaking dominance of "The Admiral","Pirates"still managed to claimed 1.2M (25.6%) stubs over 823 screens to secure second place and is fast approaching 2M.

From here the support dropped significantly as "How To Train Your Dragon 2", the sequel to DreamWorks' popular 2010 film, held down third place with just 229K (4.8%), while Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" walked away with 178K (4.3%) and fourth place. Marvel's latest has already grossed over $313M worldwide, but Korean audiences have been entranced by a string of historical hits that have been dictating terms since late July. Amidst this late-summer surge, the latest in the "Detective Conan" series managed to find footing in fifth as it claimed over 145K during its first weekend out. The Japanese animation opened to just 297 screens but still found enough support to feature in this trying top ten.

In sixth place, and down three places, cameYoon Jong-bin's period piece "KUNDO" starringHa Jeong-woo,Kang Dong-won,Lee Sung-min,Jo Jin-woong, andMa Dong-seok. This Robin Hood-style event added another 59K (1.2%) to bring it total tally to 4.7M ($35.7M). Yoon's action effort is currently the fourth highest grossing Korean film of year behind"The Attorney"(5.6M), "Miss Granny" (8.6M), and Kim's "Admiral" (10.7M).

Another legendary figure also found its way onto the charts in the form of "Hercules" (45K-0.9%), and was followed by the French comedy "Attila Marcel" (15K) by director Sylvain Chomet. Closing out the weekend cameBang Hyeong-woo's animated adventure"T-pang Rescue"which 10K (over just 89 screens), and the weekend's top ten was rounded out by the American animation "Free Birds" with 9K admissions.

What's coming out next week in Korea?[HanCinema's Film News] New Korean Films Inbound...

Last weekend's report: [HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2014.08.01 ~ 2014.08.03

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2014.08.08 - 2014.08.10 (www.kobis.or.kr)

- C.J. Wheeler ([email protected]; @KoreaOnTheCouch)