Korea Box Office: ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ Passes $55 Million on Second Weekend, as ‘The Fall Guy’ Trips

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.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “IF,” a fantasy-comedy from director John Krasinski and star Ryan Reynolds, looks to collect a promising $40 million in its box office debut. Based on projections, “IF” — short for imaginary friends — is tracking to land at least $35 million and as much as $45 million from 4,000 North American theaters. At the higher end of estimates, those ticket sales would mark a solid start for a live-action PG family film that’s not based on an existing property.

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 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 “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” opened in second place at the South Korean weekend box office, a distance behind local holdover title “The Roundup: Punishment.” “Punishment,” the fourth part of Don Lee’s “Roundup” action franchise, dominated proceedings for the third weekend in succession. It earned $5.53 million and advanced its cumulative total to $67.7 million, according to Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The action comedy took home $3.6 million. The film, which is loosely based on the 1980s TV show, features Ryan Gosling working as a stuntman on the set of a film directed by his ex-girlfriend, played by Emily Blunt.Though on top of the box office, with the pair’s combined star power pulled in just $39.5 million domestically so far, with another $36.7 million in receipts overseas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Uncork’d Entertainment has pre-bought multi-territory rights to upcoming Argentinian-produced action-horror film “Eyes of the Abyss” ahead of its showcase in Cannes next week. Uncork’d has picked up the film, which is currently in post-production, for North America, the U.K. and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

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.

Naman Ramachandran Universal’s “The Fall Guy” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.5 million ($4.5 million), according to numbers from Comscore. But the force was strong with Disney’s 25th anniversary rerelease of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” as it debuted in second place with £1.1 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.

After debuting early last weekend, Universal’s The Fall Guy expanded to 78 overseas markets during its sophomore session, adding $25.4M for a running total of $36.9M at the international box office. That’s in line with Bullet Train and above The Lost City at the same point in release. Globally, the David Leitch-directed action romance is at $65.4M. 

J. Kim Murphy The summer box office isn’t exactly starting with a bang. Universal’s action-romance “The Fall Guy,” starring Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stuntman courting a rising director played by Emily Blunt, earned $10.4 million from 4,002 locations on its opening day, a figure that includes $3 million and change from preview screenings.

Universal teed off summer last night with 87 North/David Leitch’s Ryan Gosling Emily Blunt action romance, The Fall Guy, which made $3.15M from showtimes that began at 5PM yesterday as well as Wednesday advance screenings. The movie is only suppose to do around $35M for the weekend, maybe $40M. That’s not your typical start to summer, but we’re in this predicament due to the strikes’ delay on feature films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Takano Tofu” claimed double honors on the closing night of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. It won the Golden Mulberry audience award and the MyMovies Purple Mulberry award. Directed by Mihara Mitsuhiro, “Takano Tofu” is a melodrama about an elderly tofu-making craftsman, who is stuck in his ways but is also experimental and who is kindly, but whose stubbornness brings suffering on those around him.

The new action-comedy The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, is now in theaters!

Ryan Gosling and Mikey Day reunited as Beavis and Butt-Head on the red carpet premiere of Gosling’s The Fall Guy this week.The two had appeared in cosplay as the ‘90s animated duo during a Saturday Night Live skit on April 13, where their co-star Heidi Gardner corpsed and broke character,And now, they have dusted off their prosthetics and attire for an unexpected appearance on the red carpet at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Tuesday night (April 30) as well.Ryan Gosling and Mikey Day reunite as Beavis and Butt-Head on #TheFallGuy red carpet. pic.twitter.com/hcJNbD4f9g— Variety (@Variety) May 1, 2024Gosling stars in the new action comedy film alongside Emily Blunt, who was left to field most of the press questions at the event while Gosling sneaked off to get into character as Beavis, joined by ex-SNL star and Is It Cake? host Day.In The Fall Guy, which is loosely based on the ‘80s series of the same name, Gosling plays a stuntman who is working on his ex-girlfriend’s directorial debut action film, only to find himself involved in a conspiracy around the film’s lead star.