‘Gladiator II’ leads Korea box office with 40% of weekend takings | News

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II conquered all-comers at the Korean box office on its opening weekend.

The anticipated sequel claimed 40% of ticket sales and $2.3m from Friday and Sunday (November 15-17). The film, starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, has amassed a cumulative total of $3.2m in its first five days.

Despite being pushed to second place, Hear Me: Our Summer held powerful with $1.2m, mirroring its performance from last weekend. The romance drama features rising actor Hong Kyung as a newborn deliveryman who falls in love with a hearing-impaired woman portrayed by Roh Yoon-seo. The film is a remake of Cheng Fen Fen’s 2009 Taiwanese box office hit Hear Me.

Supernatural horror Devils Stay debuted in third place with $711,000. Directed by Hyun Moon-seop, the film follows a heart specialist (Park Shin-yang) who enlists a priest (Lee Min-ki) to exorcise his possessed daughter. The film is presented by Showbox, the outfit behind this year’s blockbuster thriller Exhuma.

Venom: The Last Dance secured fourth place with $508,000, less than half of the previous weekend’s $1.2m. Since its release, the latest instalment in the Sony franchise has earned $12m, making it the 15^th highest-grossing film in Korea this year to date.

Barunson E&A’s Amazon Bullseye came fifth with $137,000 over the weekend, bringing its cume to $3.7m since its October 30 release. The comedy marks the reunion of the writers and stars of Extreme Job, Korea’s highest-grossing film to date with more than $100m in revenue.

Universal Pictures animation Wild Robot followed in sixth place with $87,000. The film has grossed $4.4m since releasing on October 1.

In seventh was a re-release of 2016’s Arrival, earning $66,000. The screening of Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic is part of a special programme exclusive to Megabox theatres celebrating Columbia Pictures’ 100th anniversary. The lineup of re-releases was selected through audience surveys and also includes Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver.

Showbox’s Love In The Big City claimed eighth place with $43,000. Adapted from Park Sang-young’s Booker Prize longlisted novel and starring Kim Go-Eun from Exhuma, the film has earned $5.9m to date.

A special fifth-anniversary re-release of Makoto Shinkai’s 2019 Japanese animation Weathering With You claimed $41,000, ranking ninth. Shinkai’s latest work, Suzume, was the fourth highest-grossing film in Korea last year with a cume of $41m.

Rounding out the top 10 was Hong Kong drama Time Still Turns The Pages with $36,000. Directed by Nick Cheuk (Paradox), the film follows a teacher who uncovers repressed childhood memories after discovering an anonymous suicide note in his classroom. It premiered at Shanghai International Film Festival last year and had earned multiple nominations across Asia, including a best up-to-date director win at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards.

This weekend’s earnings were approximately $5.7m, marking it as the tenth slowest weekend of the year. The Korean box office has earned $447.5m in 2024 to date.

Looking ahead, Wicked currently leads pre-sales figures with 37% of bookings ahead of its release on November 20.