Business Rebounds Ahead of Ease of Covid Restrictions 

With a new comic book tentpole in theaters and ease of Covid restrictions in sight, the business experienced a massive bump over the weekend as admissions shot up 120% with 967,000 sales counted. With most of that being gobbled up by the new Hollywood title in pole position, the local market share shrunk to 8% with no new homegrown commercial titles competing in the market.

Taking a monster bite out of the box office was the Sony-Marvel sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which claimed over 80% of all sales over the weekend, with a total of 778,000 entries (USD 6.67 million) recorded over the three-day period, and a total of 1.1 million sales (USD 9.26 million) accrued over its first five days. 

The first Venom was a big hit during the same weekend three years ago and ultimately welcomed 3.9 million viewers. In a pandemic market and with middling reactions from fans, this sequel will struggle to reach the same heights.

In its third weekend, No Time to Die dived a hefty 70% with 65,000 seats filled over the weekend (USD 552,000). The latest 007 title has to date sold 1.15 million tickets (USD 9.51 million) in Korea which, given the Covid handicap, is comparable to Bond’s last outing Spectre, which brought in 1.85 million viewers.

The local hit On the Line was down 60% after over a month in theaters, welcoming another 35,000 viewers (USD 293,000). To date, the thriller has brought in a respectable 1.35 million spectators (USD 11.27 million).

In fourth was fellow Chuseok release Miracle: Letters to the President which was down 55%, with 19,000 entries (USD 155,000) counted over the weekend. The heart-warming drama has sold 656,000 tickets (USD 5.22 million) during its run.

The children’s animation Crayon Shin-Chan: Crash! Scribble Kingdom and Almost Four Heroes closed out the top five with a strong 25% hold. The film added 10,000 sales (USD 80,000) to push its total to 190,000 admissions (USD 1.52 million).

While Venom should still post some decent numbers, this coming weekend is all but certain to belong to the big-budget sci-fi adaptation Dune, which has a healthy lead on the reservations chart ahead of its Wednesday opening.