Hope takes over Korea box office with 66% weekend share

Na Hong Jin’s “Hope” landed at No. 1 in South Korea with the kind of weekend every distributor dreams about: $11.3 million in three days and a 66.62% slice of market revenue.

Figures from KOBIS, the box office service run by the Korean Film Council, show the local sci-fi survival thriller sold 1,504,019 tickets over the Jul. 17-19 frame. With preview screenings included, its local total now stands at $16 million from 2,129,723 admissions.

The film brings a major cast to a grim genre setup. Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star in the story of an isolated harbor village where residents find a mysterious alien presence near town, turning the community into a fight for survival.

“Hope” also helped jolt the whole market. KOBIS data put the weekend’s combined South Korean box office at $17.1 million, up from $8.2 million the previous weekend.

New arrivals and animated holdovers

“Minions & Monsters” opened in second place with $2.1 million from 308,575 admissions, according to KOBIS. Its cumulative total has reached $2.6 million from 374,784 ticket buyers.

“Moana” placed third in its second weekend, adding $1.2 million from 173,555 admissions. The film has now earned $5.6 million in South Korea from 772,104 viewers.

“Toy Story 5” followed in fourth with $834,989 from 114,720 tickets. Since its mid-June release, the animated sequel has climbed to $19.1 million from 2,750,183 admissions.

The psychological horror remake “The Eyes” took fifth place with $552,784 from 75,565 admissions. Directed by Yeom Ji-ho and starring Shin Min-ah and Kim Nam-hee, the film has reached $9.9 million and 1,431,223 admissions after four weekends.

The rest of the top 10

The faith-based animated musical “David” came in sixth with $436,845 for the weekend, pushing its South Korean total beyond $1 million.

“Colony” finished seventh, adding $92,196 from 11,534 admissions. The Yeon Sang-ho thriller, starring Jun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan and Ji Chang-wook, has earned $42.2 million from 5,941,130 tickets since opening on May 21.

In eighth place, “Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil” took $42,042 across the three-day weekend, bringing its total to $424,137.

Josh Safdie’s table tennis comedy-drama “Marty Supreme,” starring Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow, ranked ninth with $48,551. Its cumulative gross stands at $853,810.

“Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity” closed out the chart in tenth, earning $30,669 from 3,492 admissions. The Japanese animated franchise entry has made $126,351 to date.

This story draws on original reporting from Variety.