2015.08.14 ~ 2015.08.16

"Veteran"watches from above as"The Assassination"makes history...

Ryoo Seung-wan's crime drama"Veteran",Choi Dong-hoon's"The Assassination", "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation", and "Minions" all retained their place as Korea's films of choice at the top. Last weekend, these four managed to capture over 90% of the box office pie and have all now retained their place with 83% of the interest going their way. Once again"Veteran"led the charge, and actually managed to outdo itself in week two by attracting an impressive 2.2 million filmgoers to its screens. With this past weekend done and dusted, Ryoo's popular flick moves its total tally now to 6.6 million, or $44 million.

Choi Dong-hoon's"The Assassination"has proved to be a relevant and controversial piece around a time where Korea-Japan relationships are under stress and scrutiny. The film (which starsJeon Ji-hyeon,Lee Jeong-jae,Ha Jeong-woo, andOh Dal-soo) now joins the growing list of Korea feature films that have attracted over 10 million admissions. The 989 thousand stubs the film scored over the weekend (20.6%) pushed its bottom line into eight figures and the history books, one way and another.

Tom Cruise is a fan favourite here in Korea, and his last "Mission Impossible" film has had to deal with some stiff local competition and so hasn't had it all its own way. "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" was released at the end of last month and has wowed Korean filmgoers with another high-stakes mission from the America secret agent, Ethan Hunt. It claimed 469 admissions over 500 screens and was followed in fourth by the spinoff animation from Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures, "Minions". This one's directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, and worldwide it's made nearly a billion dollars at the box office. In Korea, "Minions" has been the animation to see and 276 thousand tickets (5%) were sold over the weekend.

Close behind "Minions" fell a new local entry byKang Hyo-jin, "Wonderful Nightmare" starring Uhm Jung-haw,Song Seung-heon,Kim Sang-hoand Ra Min-ran. The story follows and well-known lawyer who, after a series of poor decisions and luck, is reborn as a housewife. The film was allocated 437 screens from which to pool from, and its opening weekend attracted 256 thousand to its screens (5%). Also, fresh on the scene isPark Heung-sik's "Memories of the Sword" which came out last Thursday but was unable to rise higher than sixth with its 247K admissions. It's early days, so keep an eye on Park's action-packed period piece.

Disney and Pixar's critically acclaimed "Inside Out" came next, adding just 131 thousand which adjusted its total admission count to 4.7 million ($30.9 million); worldwide, "Inside Out" has banked $639 million. The latest in the "Detective Conan" animated series of films was next with 76 thousand, leaving the last two spots to the other newcomers: "Shaun the Sheep Movie" (44 thousand admissions) andAhn Gook-jin's directorial debut, "Alice In Earnestland" starringLee Jeong-hyeon. Ahn's first feature film behind the camera opened to just 69 screens (compared to the 1,000+"Veteran"pooled from), but still managed to secure a spot in the top ten by attracting nearly 12 thousand filmgoers.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2015.08.14 - 2015.08.16 (www.kobis.or.kr)

- C.J. Wheeler (@Woolgatherist; KoreaOnTheCouch)