'Gone Girl' takes the lead in Korean box office

Ben Affleck's thriller "Gone Girl" topped the local box office over the weekend, according to the Korean Film Council yesterday.

The film, which already received praise from international critics, is a movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel of the same title.

In the movie, Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a washed-up writer who returns to his hometown in Missouri with his beautiful wife Amy (Rosamund Pike), whom he magically fell in love with and married in New York. But Amy disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary, and Nick becomes the prime suspect in her murder as the public turns on him.

In its opening weekend, the Fox thriller garnered 426,713 viewers and made 3.5 billion won ($3.3 million) in Korea.

Local film"We Are Brothers", featuringJo Jin-woongandKim Seong-gyoon, who also worked together on "KUNDO : Age of the Rampant", debuted in second place. In their latest comedy-drama, Jo and Kim appear as brothers who were separated in an orphanage 30 years ago. The movie depicts the difficult yet heartwarming reunion of the two.

Coming in third wasLim Chan-sang's "My Love, My Bride - 2014" with 117,869 moviegoers, pulling its three-week total to 1,839,033.

"Red Carpet", starringYoon Kye-sangandKo Joon-hee, debuted in fourth with 117,869 people attending the movie, which is set in the adult film industry. Vampire flick "Dracula Untold" managed to stay in fifth with 61,395 tickets sold.

Richard Linklater's insightful film "Boyhood", which was filmed over 12 years to tell a coming-of-age story of a boy named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), opened in eighth with 45,147 viewers. Mason is first introduced to the audience as a 6-year-old boy who transitions into adulthood over the next 166 minutes. Actor Ethan Hawke plays Mason's struggling, divorced father.

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"We Are Brothers", starringJo Jin-woongandKim Seong-gyoon, debuted in second place at the weekend box office. Provided by Lotte Entertainment
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The spirits moved "Ouija'' to No. 1 at the box office, with the board-game adaptation leading the weekend with a $20 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The horror movie release, timed to Halloween, attracted more moviegoers at the North America box office than the violent Keanu Reeves thriller "John Wick'.' The R-rated hit-man revenge tale from Lionsgate opened with $14.2 million in second place.

Last week's top film, the Brad Pitt World War II action film "Fury'' dropped to third with $13 million. In two weeks, the Sony Pictures release has made $46.1 million.

Board-game adaptations such as "Ouija'' have had a checkered history at the box office, with the big-budget "Battleship'' - the last Hasbro game turned into a movie - famously flopping in 2012. But "Oujia',' made by Blumhouse Productions and released by Universal Pictures, was made for just $5 million, and scared up moviegoers with a micro-budget summoning of brand-name occult.

Universal also could claim the top spot in the world's other top market, China, where the Scarlett Johansson sci-fi film "Lucy'' opened with $19 million. Since opening in July, "Lucy'' has made $434 million worldwide, proving the global appeal of Johansson.

Two Fox releases rounded out the domestic top five. David Fincher's marital noir "Gone Girl',' starring Ben Affleck, made $11.1 million in its fourth week, bringing its cumulative total to $124 million. It will soon pass Fincher's "Benjamin Button'' ($127.5 million) to mark the director's top box-office hit.

In its second week of release, the animated fantasy "The Book of Life'' earned $9.8 million.

As Hollywood's awards season begins to heat up, limited-release titles also made noise at the box office. Easily leading all films in per-screen average were Alejandro Inarritu's black comedy "Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" and the Edward Snowden documentary "Citizenfour'.'

Laura Poitras's "Citizenfour'' drew a $25,000 average opening in five theaters for the Weinstein Company's Radius unit. Expanding to 50 theaters in its second week, Fox Searchlight's "Birdman'' took in an average of almost $29,000 per screen.

Next weekend's top film is essentially already decided. Christopher Nolan's space travel thriller "Interstellar',' one of the year's most anticipated releases, opens in select theaters Wednesday. Nolan is releasing the movie first in about 240 theaters that still project 35mm or 70mm, rather than digital. AP

BY JIN EUN-SOO