2016.05.27 ~ 2016.05.29

"X-Men: Apocalypse" muffles "The Wailing" for the win...

The ninth film in Marvel Comic's "X-Men" series ("X-Men: Apocalypse") arrived in Korea last Wednesday, dovetailing nicely with the success of "Captain America: Civil War". "X-Men: Apocalypse" sold 1.1 million admissions (51.2%) across 1,258 screens to oustNa Hong-jin's "The Wailing" and so denying it a third straight week at the top of tpile. Marvel's latest did this by securing nearly $9 million over the weekend with second place, "The Wailing", pulling in roughly half that.

"The Wailing" had 500 screens less than last weekend and from the 910 it did have it, attracted 628 thousand admissions (26.6%) to move its total tally to 5.7 million ($39 million). Combined with Marvel's mutants, the top two films captured over 77% of the box office pie.

"The Angry Birds Movie" scored 6.4% (163 thousand admissions) and so increased its total earnings in Korea to $2.9 million (449 thousand admissions). Worldwide, "Angry Birds", which is based on the popular mobile video game of the same name, has already made $164.6 million.

The Irish musical comedy-drama "Sing Street" by John Carney was next with a positive step up the chart to fourth. Last weekend, "Sing Street", which had its premiere at Sundance back in January, was fifth with 136.7 thousand admissions (6%), and week two for Carney's flick saw and additional 94.1 thousand admissions (4%) added to bring its bottom line in Korea to $2.4 million (347 thousand admissions).

Director Chang's drama"Canola"was the victim of "Sing Street"'s rise as it slipped one place to settle in fifth with 79.6 thousand admissions (3.1%), followed by Frankie Chen's "Our Times" (a Taiwanese romance flick that's already made $81.5 million) with 69.1 thousand admissions (3%). "Captain America: Civil War" came out in Korea late April, and with the 40.4 thousand admissions (1.6%) this American superhero blockbuster claimed over the weekend, the film has sold 8.6 million admissions ($61.3 million) in Korea alone. The film was made for $250 million and, worldwide, "Captain America: Civil War" has grossed $1.1 billion.

The Swedish drama "A Man Called Ove" (adapted from Fredrik Backman's book of the same name) sold 44 thousand admissions across 244 screens during its first weekend out, followed byJo Sung-hee's "Phantom Detective". "Phantom Detective" (which starsLee Je-hoon,Kim Seong-gyoon, andPark Geun-hyeong) occupied sixth place last weekend with 3.4% (82.9 thousand admissions), but found its fourth weekend out tough going; it was nudge to ninth with just 13.4 thousand admissions (0.5%). Since its release at the beginning of May, "Phantom Detective" has made $9.6 million (1.4 million admissions). Lastly, "Before I Wake", Mike Flanagan's fantasy horror, scored 5.5 thousand admissions (0.2%) from 199 screens.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2016.05.27 - 2016.05.29 (www.kobis.or.kr)

-Chris Wheeler