2016.01.01 ~ 2016.01.03

"The Himalayas"enjoys its third week at the top while The Force fades...

Lee Seok-hoon's thrilling drama"The Himalayas"retained pole position moving into 2016. For the past two weeks, Lee's fifth feature has managed to quell "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to deny this transnational sub-guzzler the right to rule in Korea over the festive season.

"The Himalayas"saw a slight decrease in its screen count (from 1,094 to 952) but still this popular flick has comfortably secured the bulk of box office pie by capturing 31% of the ticket sales, or 1.2 million admissions. Since its release mid-December, the film has grossed a total of $42 million (6.3 million admissions) and has done so by maintaining a comfortable margin over its closest competitors.

Given that "The Force Awakens" has currently made over $1.5 billion worldwide, and is still smashing records in America, you'd expect that massive success to be reflected here in Korea. However, that simply has not been the case as week three for Abrams' latest see it slip from second place down to fourth with just 317 thousand admissions (9%) to its credit. Those admissions now move "The Force Awakens" to 3.1 million tickets sold in Korea, contributing around $22.9 million to the billion the film has already banked from around the globe. ?

The two films that trumped "Star Wars" were somewhat of a surprise: a re-release of the popular film"Inside Men"from November hit theatres on the 31st (titled: "Inside Men: The Original"), and Douglas Mackinnon's "Sherlock: The Abominable Bride". "Inside Men: The Original" contains extra footage which was enough to spark the curiosity of 666 thousand filmgoers (17.4%) as it claimed second place, and "Sherlock" (a Christmas TV special) was right behind it with 661 thousand (16.3%).

"Hotel Transylvania 2" was released on Christmas Eve and managed 315 thousand across 635 screens (7.4%), moving its total tally now to 1.2 million ($7.9 million), followed by the only other local films to make the top ten:Kim Dae-seung's "The Joseon Magician" (starringYoo Seung-ho,Ko Ah-ra, andKwak Do-won) andPark Hoon-jeong-I's historical action piece:"The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale". "The Joseon Magician" (also know simply as "The Magician") claimed the attention of 286 thousand (7%) while Park's efforts fell three places from last weekend to settle in seventh with 128 thousand (3.2%). Since it's released mid-December, "The Tiger" has made over $11.1 million (1.7 million admissions).

France's "The Little Prince" also took a tumble, slipping from sixth place held last week to eighth this weekend with 93 thousand admissions (2.2%). Finally, the first weekend of 2016 was closed out by Breck Eisner's "The Last Witch Hunt" (starring Vin Diesel), and the latest Pok?mon film, "Pok?mon the Movie XY: Ring no Chomajin Hoopa"; they claimed 55.5 and 54 thousand admissions respectively.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.01.01 - 2016.01.03?(www.kobis.or.kr)

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