Korea Box Office: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Opens Second as ‘Roundup: Punishment’ Wins Third Weekend

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fresh from its Cannes premiere George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” dashed into the lead at the South Korea cinema box office. In doing so, it deposed “The Roundup: Punishment,” the local crime actioner that has dominated Korean cinemagoing for the past month. “Furiosa” earned $575,000 from 75,400 ticket sales on Wednesday, giving it a Korean total of $597,000, including a sprinkling of preview showings, according to data from the Kobis tracking service that is operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Recently, confirmed to star in Park Chan-wook’s new film “The Ax,” Korea’s Son Ye-jin is set as the subject of the Bucheon International Fantastic Festival (BiFan)’s annual actor focus. Previous honorees include Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Hye-soo, Seol Kyung-gu, and Choi Min-sik.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Delivery Man,” the next film project for hit-making Thai director Kongkiat Komesiri has been picked up by Los Angeles- and Bangkok-based EST N8. The company is launching it at the Cannes Market, adjacent to the Cannes Film Festival. Komesiri, known for his hit “Khun Pan” film trilogy, popular BL series “KinnPorsche” and horror films including “Slice” and “Art of the Devil II.” The new film, which he also wrote, is pitched as “a spine-chilling horror experience [..

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 27-member European Film Agency Directors Association and the Asian Film Alliance Network, which was established this time last year and currently has seven members, have agreed to work together on topics of common interest and to jointly develop a better world film ecosystem. At a meeting this week held on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, EFAD and AFAN promised to enhance understanding and collaboration between Asian and European national film agencies. Topics included: dialog on policy and regulations; the development of the film industry in both regions; and addressing new media and challenges ahead. Separately, the founding AFAN members convened for a closed-door roundtable discussion on May 16.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Local blockbuster, “The Roundup: Punishment” extended its dominance of the South Korea theatrical box office for a fourth weekend. That lifted its cumulative total to a powerful $75 million. “Punishment,” the fourth part of a brutal action comedy film franchise produced by and starring Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok), earned $3.05 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Through the Lens Entertainment, the East-West film studio that made a splash at Cannes last year, is expanding into manga. It has launched Hoshi Studios, a manga development and publishing startup with outposts in Singapore and Japan. The outfit will create teams combining western film and TV talent with established Japanese manga artists to create books and other comic-book properties.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korea’s Barunson E&A has picked up world sales rights to Vietnamese horror-comedy “Don’t Cry Butterfly.” Sales will be launched this week at the Cannes Market. Written and directed by Duong Dieu Linh, the Hanoi-set film follows a housewife who uses voodoo to try and get her cheating husband fall back into love with her, but instead invites a mysterious presence into the house.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Los Angeles- and Bangkok-based sales firm EST N8 has bulked up its Cannes Market film sales slate with a trio of completed Asian titles. “Mash Ville” stars Jeon Sin-hwan (“The Housemaid,” “Time Renegades”) and Park Jong-hwan (“Concrete Utopia,” “Hell Is Other People”) and weaves together the lives of pseudo-religious believers and eight strangers in a rural area. When their paths cross they must fight for survival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Female stunt performer Wiriya Caesar will step up into the lead performer role in upcoming Thai action film “The 24.” The film project is being launched this week in the Cannes Market by new international sales firm Boz Pictures. Wiriya (aka Porntip Wiriya, aka “Fan”) has previously been a stunt double for Mary-Elizabeth Winstead in “Kate” and Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction,” and has other credits on “Thirteen Lives” and “Hidden Strike.” In “The 24” she will star as an assassin who wakes up with a time bomb strapped to her body. She has clear instructions to kill a hit list of 24 members of the Bangkok underground, with each successful hit buying her more time alive. Caesar is joined in the cast by Japan’s Sakaguchi Tak (“Re:Born,” “One Percenter,” “Versus”), Dan Chupong (“Ong Bak 1 &2,” “Born to Fight”), Sunny Pang (“The Night Comes for Us,” “Headshot” and Gareth Evans’ upcoming “Havoc”) and Simon Kook (“Ip Man 3,” “Mayhem”). The film, which will shoot in the fourth quarter of this year, is written and directed by Lee Thongkham (“The Maid,” “The Lake,” “Kitty the Killer”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul-based film sales company, Finecut has notched pre-sales for its upcoming action-comedy “The Desperate Chase, which it is launching this week at the Cannes Film Festival‘s Cannes Market,. The film is an action comedy featuring a hot-blooded detective and a swindler who is also a master of disguise who team up to combat an evil mafia. Early rights buyers include Rights Cube for Japan, Apex Success Global for Taiwan and Mockingbird Pictures for Vietnam. Screening as a rough cut in the Cannes Market, the film is the second feature by Kim Jae-hoon, known for his debut with the body-switch action thriller “Devils,” which released in South Korea last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asian audiences are increasingly turning to homegrown content in their streaming choices. Asian titles powering 80% of premium VOD engagement and customer acquisition, according to new research from research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. “The Rise of Asian Content” is based on passive tracking of 40,000 users by sister company AMPD in nine major Asian markets – Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand – over 15 months between Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” debuted on top of the mainland China box office with an opening weekend score of $11.4 million (RMB81.1 million). That was only the fourth weekend this year that a Hollywood film has topped the China charts and the third time in 2024 that a Hollywood title has opened on top. “Apes” was also the top film this weekend in North America and international markets. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed that the film accounted for some 30% of the theatrical total on a weekend where theaters earned a combined $38.2 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm Finecut has inked multiple deals for horror thriller “Noise” and for “A Traveler’s Needs,” the recent Berlin prize-winner directed by Hong Sangsoo.“Noise” is a “multi-sensory and realistic horror” film that intertwines societal motifs of “floor noise” with suspenseful elements. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the film centers around a woman with a hearing aid haunted by inexplicable sounds linked to her sister’s disappearance in her own apartment and attracting a malevolent presence.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Jeonju International Film Festival, South Korea’s second most important generalist film festival, on Tuesday announced “The Major Tones” and “Time to Be Strong” as the Grand Prix winners of its two competition sections. The festival continues until Friday. Directed by Argentina’s Ingrid Pokropek, “The Major Tones” is a mystery film about a youngster with a metal plate in her arm which begins to receive peculiar messages in Morse Code. It premiered at the Mar del Plata festival and also played in Berlin’s Generation KPlus section.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Concert documentary, “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, will open in mainland Chinese cinemas on May 31. The film had its world premiere in official selection at the Venice festival last year. That was followed by an acclaimed run at the New York, London and Camerimage festivals. Japanese composer Sakamoto, who was awarded an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy and two Golden Globes, had a four-decade career that stretched from techno-pop to Oscar winning scores on films including “Merry Christmas, Mr.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Primates will rule (the box office) again! Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is aiming for $50 million to $55 million from 3,700 theaters in its domestic debut, which will easily be enough to tower over the box office chart. Those ticket sales are roughly even with two of the three prior installments in 20th Century’s rebooted “Planet of the Apes” franchise: 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” opened to $56.2 million and 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” opened to $54.8 million, while 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” notched a series-best $72 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The video-on-demand streaming sector in Southeast Asia delivered record subscription numbers and subscription revenues in the first quarter of the year, according to a new study. Those trends represent recovery after a tough 2023. Data from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia and its AMPD research affiliate showed VOD usage at a barely changed 96.3 minutes in the five Southeast Asian countries studied (Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia). Total paying subscriptions reached 48.5 million, representing net additions of 652,000 quarter-on-quarter and 1.6 million year-on-year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, took the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas ahead of chasing pack of new releases. It earned $30.7 million (RMB218 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Over its full five-day opening session, it accumulated $55.2 million. In second place was patriotic action thriller “Formed Police Unit” which focused on Chinese peacekeeping forces.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Locally-produced crime action thriller “The Roundup: Punishment” dominated the South Korea box office for a second weekend. In contrast, Hollywood’s “The Fall Guy” opened softly in third place. Data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic), showed “The Roundup: Punishment” grossed $13.8 million between Friday and Sunday, earned from 1.92 million ticket sales. That represented a huge 83% market share over the weekend, albeit down from 92% a week earlier.