Action comedy Hitman 2 rose to the top of the Korea box office during the Lunar New Year holidays, claiming 39% of ticket sales.
The sequel earned $2.8m from more than 450,000 admissions from Friday to Sunday (January 31 to February 2). Released on January 22, it has generated a cume of $12.7m from nearly 2 million admissions to date, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service.
Kwon Sang-woo reprises his role as a secret agent-turned-webtoon artist. The first film, Hitman: Agent Jun, took $14.1m when released in January 2020, a couple of months before the pandemic lockdown.
After leading the box office the previous weekend, supernatural thriller Dark Nuns dropped to second with takings of $1.55m for a cume of $9.6m since its release on January 24. It marked a 60% decline from its opening weekend.
Directed by Kwon Hyeok-jae, the film is a spin-off from 2015’s The Priests, which was directed by Exhuma’s Jang Jae-hyun and proved a box office hit with takings of $29m.
Debuting in third place with $1m was Secret: Untold Melody, an adaptation of the Taiwanese fantasy romance Secret, starring Do Kyung-soo, a member of K-pop boy band EXO.
Placing fourth was historical thriller Harbin with $387,000, bringing its cume to $32m since releasing on December 24.
In fifth was Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, grossing $246,000. This satirical thriller from Mubi was up 40% on the previous weekend and has earned $2.5m at the Korean box office since opening on December 11.
In sixth was The Winning, a concert film from K-pop singer IU, with $214,000. In its second week at the box office, the film’s cume stands at $1m.
The remainder of the top 10 comprised four animated films, all from well-known franchises.
In seventh was a remastered release of the 2005 film Pokémon: Lucario And The Mystery Of Mew, which earned $182,000.
Pororo Movie: Underwater Adventure ranked eighth with $88,000, reaching $2.3m after five outings.
In ninth was Octonauts: Above And Beyond: Operation Polar Regions, a UK animation, with $67,000.
Japanese anime Crayon Shinchan The Movie: Our Dinosaur Diary rounded out the top ten, adding $62,000 to its cume for a total of $5.1m.
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