Korea Box Office: ‘The Night Owl’ Ousts ‘Wakanda Forever’ as Top Title After Two Weeks

Period thriller “The Night Owl” lifted the South Korean box office even as “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” faded.

The locally-made “Owl” earned $4.85 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Over the five days from its Wednesday debut, the 15-rated, C-JeS Entertainment-produced title earned $6.14 million.

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That was enough to depose “Wakanda Forever” which enjoyed two weekends on top of the Korean chart, but took a 61% fall in its third weekend and slipped to third position. After 19 days in Korean cinemas “Wakanda” has accumulated $15.8 million, making it the 12th ranked film of the year and the sixth best-performing Hollywood title.

Unchanged in second place was Korean action film “Decibel,” albeit falling by 54% week-on-week. Over the latest weekend, it earned $1.19 million, giving it a 12-day cumulative of $5.79 million.

Korean romance film “Ditto” slipped from third place in its opening weekend to fourth in its sophomore outing. It earned $563,000 between Friday and Sunday, for a 12-day cumulative of $3.25 million.

The overall, nationwide box office was $8.66 million, up a shade from the previous weekend’s $7.99 million total. That was the best weekend since mid-September, but it leaves the national year-to-date total significantly below pre-COVID levels.

U.S. title, “Strange World” was the weekend’s second-ranked new release title. It earned $378,000 over the Friday-Sunday period and $466,000 over its opening five days.

Lower down the chart, smash hit Japanese animation “One Piece Film Red” earned $86,000 from premium-priced previews. That would have made it the sixth highest grossing film of the weekend. Local charts, which are ranked by admission numbers, show it instead in ninth place. The film gets its full commercial release in Korea from Wednesday.

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