Korea Box Office: ‘Exhuma’ on Top for Fifth Weekend, Passes Blockbuster Milestone

according to Box Office Mojo.The impressive premiere puts it on track for a debut of around $26 million, Variety reported.The $50 million film, from director Alex Garland, follows a team of military-embedded journalists racing against time to reach Washington, D.C. before rebel factions descend upon the White House.Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman and Jesse Plemons, the thriller has been dubbed a “a terrifying premonition of American collapse,” though critics say its political message was “muddled.”The Post’s Johnny Oleksinski went as far as to call it “a torturous, overrated movie without a point,” bashing its script as lousy and the acting as monotonous.Behind “Civil War” was “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which topped the charts when it premiered two weeks ago.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korea’s second largest generalist film event the Jeonju International Film Festival has set eight fiction films by first or second-time feature directors, for its main competition. They are “Cu Li Never Cries,” by Pham Ngoc Lan; “Junkyard Dog,” by Jean-Baptiste Durand, “La Palisiada,” by Philip Sotnychenko; “My Endless Numbered Days,” by Shaun Neo; “Oxygen Station,” by Ivan Tymchenko; “Practice,” by Laurens Perol; “The Major Tones,” by Ingrid Pokropek; and “The Permanent Picture,” by Laura Ferres. Additionally, two documentary features also compete: “After the Snowmelt,” directed by Lo Yi-Shan and “Kix,” by Balint Revesz and David Mikulan. The COVID-pandemic continues to affect filmmaking and festival selection, organizers said. “Even films planned to be made beforehand had to extend their production period due to the pandemic, and many works highlighted the limitations of the production environments, such as smaller cast numbers and minimal locations,” said chief programmer Chun Jinsu. The festival runs May 1-10 in Jeonju, a major town on South Korea’s west coast.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to “I, The Executioner,” which will premiere as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival this year, have been picked up by South Korea’s CJ ENM. The crime-action film directed by Ryu Seung-wan (also written Ryoo Seung-wan) is a sequel to Ryu’s 2015 hit “Veteran” and in Korea goes by the title “Veteran 2.” Few details of the story have yet been disclosed, but CJ describes the film as “combining Ryu’s trademark action with observations and messages about social change.” Ryu last year enjoyed major box office success with crime comedy “Smugglers.” Hwang Jung-min, who recently enjoyed box office success in “12.12: The Day,” reprises his role from “Veteran.” He is joined in the sequel by Jung Hae-in (“Tune in for Love”) as a new member of the film’s Violent Crime Investigation Squad. “I, The Executioner” was produced by Filmmaker R & K, the production shingle owned by Ryu and his wife Kang Hae-jung, with CJ ENM as financier and local and international distributor. CJ ENM expects to give the film a theatrical release in South Korea at an unspecified date in the second half of the year. The original “Veteran” had its international premiere in a sidebar of the 2015 Toronto festival, was named best film at the Sitges genre festival in Spain.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Michael O’Leary, the new president and CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners, is encouraging Hollywood to think smaller. Don’t get him wrong — he loves Marvel, “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” as much as the next exhibitor. But O’Leary is urging the major studios to prioritize more than just the tentpole properties that prop up the box office.

Oppenheimer continues to break records around the world, and now the film has become Christopher Nolan’s biggest Box Office hit overseas.The biopic profiles Robert J. Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), the real-life American physicist who played a pivotal role in the creation of the atomic bomb in World War II.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Japanese animation film “The Boy and the Heron” earned a chart-topping $34.9 million between Friday and Sunday at the mainland China box office. Over its full five-day opening run, it took an even more spectacular $73 million. China was the last major territory to play the Studio Ghibli-produced fantasy in cinemas – it released in its native Japan in July and is imminently headed to streaming in many other territories – but that did not stop Chinese audiences from lapping it up. While most films release in China on a Friday, “The Boy and the Heron” was given a Wednesday outing in order to capture momentum from the Thursday-to-Saturday Qingming public holiday. Consultancy firm Artisan reports that it earned RMB248 million ($34.9 million) over the conventional Friday-to-Sunday weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Without significant new challengers, spooky Korean drama “Exhuma” held on at the top of the South Korea box office chart for the seventh consecutive weekend. Its cumulative passed the symbolic $80 million mark. The lack of strong new release titles also meant that aggregate weekend box office in Korea slipped to a lowly $5.59 million. The Choi Min-sik-starring “Exhuma” dropped roughly 50% week-on-week to record $1.59 million between Friday and Sunday, and a 28% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Sony Pictures Classics’ Wicked Little Letters grossed an estimated $1.5+ million in a big second week expansion for the R-rated British period comedy to 1,000 screens from five. The Thea Sharrock-directed film starring Olivia Colman (also a producer) and Jessie Buckley, no. 8 at the domestic weekend box office, has a $1.6+ million cume.

Refresh for latest…: A busy holdover weekend for wide studio releases was led by the trio of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two. And, in a soaring performance, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron swooped into China helping the market set a new Qingming holiday record. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief BBC Studios is launching ‘BBC Kids’ in Korea as a monthly subscription service on Genie TV Kids Land, a dedicated IPTV service for young children, in collaboration with telecoms and internet service provider KT. Through the partnership, BBC Studios Asia will bring a wide range of children’s content to Korean audiences, in one place for the first time. The service will feature a mix of content in English language as well as a variety of popular titles dubbed into Korean for the first time.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Spooky Korean drama film “Exhuma” held on at the top of the local box off ice chart for the sixth consecutive weekend. It saw off challenges from significant newcomers “Troll Factory” and “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.” The Choi Min-sik-starring “Exhuma” dropped 32% week-on-week to record $3.08 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter More than eight months (and one Oscar best picture win) after “Oppenheimer” landed in theaters, Christopher Nolan’s historical epic is still finding new audiences. The film opened over the weekend in its final market, Japan, with $2.5 million from 343 theaters. It placed third on the country’s box office charts after two local offerings, the horror movie “Strange House” and the animated “Haikyu!!” According to Universal Pictures, “Oppenheimer” is the biggest opening weekend of 2024 for a Hollywood release in Japan, surpassing “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” ($1.6 million) and “Dune: Part Two” ($1.3 million).

A man has been arrested after a police officer was attacked in the early hours of this morning.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou will be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming edition of the Festival of Far East Film in Italy’s Udine (April 24 – May 2). The lineup will include three films by Zhang: his 2023 political thriller “Under the Light” in its competition section; as well as “To Live” and “Raise the Red Lantern” in its restored classics section. The festival’s total lineup includes 74 films in total – 47 in competition and 28 out of competition) from 11 countries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe, the Korean firm behind K-pop’s BTS, has struck an expanded 10-year deal with Universal Music Group (UMG), providing Hybe’s roster of artists and labels access to UMG’s leading global network. UMG will further collaborate with Hybe’s global superfan platform Weverse, bringing more of a direct connection between UMG artists and their fandom. Hybe and UMG will additionally collaborate on artist promotions and marketing activities in North America under the oversight of Scooter Braun – who, in his time as CEO of Hybe America, acquired QC Media Holdings and incorporated SB Projects as well as Big Machine Label Group into the existing roster. Hybe and UMG first teamed up in 2017 on BTS, through a distribution agreement in Japan. In 2021, the companies expanded their relationship with a global strategic agreement which saw collaborations across multiple projects and use of Weverse for fan communication.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” collected $45.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, handing Sony Pictures the studio’s first No. 1 film since last summer.The opening weekend for “Frozen Empire,” in 4,345 theaters, was nearly exactly the same as the $44 million launch for “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021.“Afterlife” rebooted the franchise with a sequel built around the descendants (Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace) of Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler, along with Paul Rudd’s seismologist Gary Grooberson.Neither film has been a hit with critics, but audiences have been more receptive.

Timothée Chalamet's newest movies have helped him reach record-breaking status. In the late '70s, John Travolta had two top-grossing films come out within eight months of each other. "Saturday Night Fever" came out in December 1977 and "Greece" came out in June 1978.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” continued its sway atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for a third consecutive weekend with £4 million ($5.1 million), according to numbers from Comscore. Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated sequel has an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem reprising their roles from the first film, with Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux joining them.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief V from Korean pop icons BTS will Tuesday unveil a live performance video in collaboration with French luxury brand Cartier in support of his – already hit – new digital single “FRI(END)S.” Released at 1 p.m. Korean time on Friday, “FRI(END)S” is a pop soul song that is the artist’s first solo project since “Layover,” his debut solo album released in September. The English-language song is a love song depicting one person’s confession of love to a friend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The South Korean box office had a familiar look. Dark drama, “Exhuma” dominated the chart with a more than 50% market share for the fourth weekend in a row. And, for the third successive weekend, “Dune 2” placed second. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to reverse the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $5.80 million between Friday and Sunday.