Korea Box Office: ‘Suzume’ Reigns for Fourth Weekend as ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Makes Second Place Start

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” landed into second place at a depressed South Korean box office with a market share barely a fifth that of chart leader “Suzume.”

The Japanese animation film earned $4.46 million in its fourth week of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). While that was a 26% week-on-week drop, its hold on the chart remained at over 60%. Since releasing on March 8, it has grossed $29.9 million, making it the second highest film of the year in Korea – behind another Japanese animation “The First Slam Dunk” on $35.1 million.

“D&D” was the weekend’s top-placed new release and earned $958,000 for a 13% market share. Over the full five days since its opening on Wednesday, it achieved $1.36 million.

“The First Slam Dunk,” which has been on release since January, placed third with $489,000. Its cumulative total stands at $34.4 million.

The top-ranked Korean film was “Woongnami,” which earned $330,000 over the weekend. Its cumulative after two weekends is $1.86 million.

Fellow Korean title, “Soulmate” earned $151,000 in fifth place for a total of $1.64 million after three weekends. Concert film “I’m Hero” earned $147,000 for a four week total of $4.45 million.

“A Man Called Otto” ranked seventh on its opening weekend. It earned $90,000 between Friday and Sunday, and $163,000 over its full five-day opening.

South Korea’s box office continues to operate at depressed levels. The latest weekend, with a nationwide theatrical total of just $7.21 million, was (narrowly) the weakest this year.

The month of March enjoyed a gross revenue leap to KRW80.2 billion. That was nearly triple the score achieved in the same month last year (KRW27 billion). But it was still 32% short of the total in pre-COVID year 2019.

The first quarter shows a similar trend. Gross nationwide box office in the January to March period totaled KRW276 billion ($209 million). That was more than double the KRW113 million of 2022. But it is still 40% down compared with 2019, when the aggregate ran to KRW467 billion and Korea was the world’s fourth largest box office market.

The collapse in market share by local, Korean movies is even more dramatic. Used to enjoying a majority of the market (and achieving 64% market share in both 2019 and 2020), Korean movies earned just KRW79 billion ($60.1 million) in the first quarter, or a lowly 29% market share in the first three months of the year.

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