Korea Box Office: ‘Exhuma’ Hits $80 Million, Scores Seventh Weekend Win

Patrick Frater
·3 min read

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.

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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). That gives it a cumulative total of $80.8 million, earned from 11.3 million spectators.

“Troll Factory,” a crime drama about a journalist’s investigation of an online scam, has received mixed reviews, but held on the second position in its second weekend of release. It earned $1 million between Friday and Sunday and has a two-week cumulative of $5.57 million.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which has failed to stir Korean audiences, remained in third place for the second time. Over the weekend, it earned $621,000 for a 12-day total of $3.34 million.
U.S. horror film, “The First Omen” was the highest-ranked new release. It opened in fourth place with $462,000 over the weekend and $642,000 over its full five-day opening run.

Japanese romance film “The Last 10 Years,” which first played in Korea in May 2023, enjoyed a re-release less than a year later. It earned $398,000 over the weekend, giving it a lifetime cumulative of $1.59 million.

“Dune: Part Two” took sixth place by virtue of its high average ticket prices. It earned $318,000 in its sixth weekend of release for a cumulative of $16.7 million. Although it has gone up against the powerful “Exhuma” throughout its career, “Dune 2” has become the second highest-grossing film this year in Korea.

Although it sold more tickets than “Dune 2” over the weekend, Jason Statham-starring action film “The Beekeeper” opened only in seventh place in revenue terms. It earned $284,000 between Friday and Sunday and $497,000 over its full five opening days.

“Yumi’s Cells: The Movie” a Korean-made animation adapted from a well-known webtoon that has previously been adapted as a hybrid live action and animated TV series, opened in eighth place. It earned $176,000 over the weekend and $279,000 over its initial five days in cinemas.

Japanese animation, “Spy x Family Code: White” earned $132,000 from its third weekend in Korean cinemas. Since releasing on March 20, it has accumulated $1.92 million in the country.

Korean horror film “The Sin” opened in tenth place. It earned $107,000 over the weekend and $171,000 over five days.

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