‘Top Gun Maverick’ Reclaims Korea Box Office Crown on Slower Weekend

“Top Gun Maverick” reclaimed the lead at the South Korea box office as “Thor: Love and Thunder” slowed rapidly and Korean cinemas endured a weekend that slowed the recent recovery trend.

“Top Gun Maverick” earned $5.77 million between Friday and Sunday, in its fourth week of release in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a drop of only 11% from its previous weekend.

In contrast, “Thor Love and Thunder” registered a 66% weekend-on-weekend tumble, falling from $9.88 million previously to $3.34 million. Nevertheless, it already has a healthy cumulative of $20.6 million since releasing on July 6, 2022.

“Decision to Leave,” the Park Chan-wook-directed crime thriller that debuted in Cannes, ranked third again with a weekend score of $1.72 million. While its performance has caused some commentators to ask whether art house films still have a place in Korean cinemas, its box office total of $9.68 million makes it the third highest-scoring Korean film of the year to date. (In recent days, it overtook both “Broker” and “The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure”.)

The highest-placed new release title of the weekend was Japanese animation “Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween,” which earned $1.71 million over its first five days of release, including $1.17 million between Friday and Sunday.

Korea’s top ranked film of the year, “The Roundup” earned $293,000 in fifth place, giving a cumulative of $99.1 million. The cumulative figure appears lower in dollar terms than the week before, reflecting the current relative weakness of the Korean currency.

“Elvis” opened only in sixth. The biopic earned $291,000 over the weekend and $451,000 over five days.

There were plenty of other new release titles. But none made a big impression. Local title, “The Killer – A Girl Who Deserves to Die” earned $222 over the weekend and $348,000 over five days. Another Korean film, “Contorted” earned $114,000 over the weekend for a five days cumulative of $181,000.

The Russo brothers’ action thriller “The Gray Man” earned $91,000 from a limited release on 220 screens, good enough for ninth place, while also debuting on the Netflix streaming platform.