Comfort Women Drama SPIRITS’ HOMECOMING Tops New Releases

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Comfort Women Drama SPIRITS’ HOMECOMING Tops New Releases

Feb 29, 2016

Writer by Pierce Conran
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ZOOTOPIA, DONGJU Rise in Second Frames

Led by the debut of comfort women drama Spirits' Homecoming, local titles pushed the market share for domestic films back up to 56% as a total of 2.47 million visitors were recorded over the weekend.

Driven by high public interest, the crowd-funded film Spirits' Homecoming by director CHO Jung-rae was a surprise number one, capturing 766,071 viewers (USD 4.82 million) in its opening frame, and 1.06 million admissions (USD 6.4 million) since its Wednesday bow. Audience scores are very high and competition is weak in early March, indicating that the film, which chronicles the lives of two teenage girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II, should continue to post strong numbers.

Following its strong bow last weekend, R-rated superhero film Deadpool slid 59% for 441,741 tickets (USD 3.08 million), giving it a strong 2.62 million spectators (USD 17.46 million) in 12 days. Meanwhile, animated title Zootopia benefited from strong word of mouth and increased 26% in its second spin on the charts, adding 412,261 viewers (USD 2.54 million) for an encouraging 1.13 million admissions (USD 6.8 million) since February 17th.

Rising a spot to fourth was LEE Joon-ik’s Japanese Colonial Era biopic DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet, which saw its take increase by 5% to 187,623 tickets (USD 1.19 million), giving it a new total of 607,312 viewers (USD 3.66 million). In its fourth week, Lunar New Year smash hit A Violent Prosecutor decreased 60% for 178,970 admissions (USD 1.15 million) and an impressive 9.44 million spectators overall (USD 60.42 million). Local romcom omnibus Like for Likes, featuring YOO Ah-in suffered a 71% tumble on its second weekend, giving it 93,674 viewers (USD 614,404) over the frame and an underwhelming 733,713 admissions (USD 4.55 million) in 12 days.

In seventh place, LEE Yoon-ki’s new melodrama A Man and A Woman, featuring JEON Do-yeon and GONG Yoo suffered a poor debut, posting only 83,054 ticket sales (USD 561,083) in its opening, and 116,985 admissions (USD 770,029) in four days. Opening just below was another local drama, UNFORGETTABLE, with just 76,288 viewers (USD 457,843) over the weekend and 177,427 spectators (USD 1.02 million) in total.

The top diversity release was the US indie cancer drama Letters to God, which opening in its home country back in 2010. The film took in 8,613 moviegoers (USD 46,452) on its first weekend.

Offerings are pretty light for the week ahead, with only the embattled swords and sandals epic God of Egypt barely ranking in top ten of the reservations chart.

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