While the US box office is being dominated by Barbie, Korea is also seeing a female-driven movie hit the top of their charts. But, instead of being the film based on Mattel’s famous doll, it’s Smugglers, from director Ryoo Seungwan (Ryu Seung-wan).
Following a group of diving women in Jeju, who have recently lost their jobs, Smugglers follows the group’s efforts to use their skills to retrieve lost, illegal shipments dropped into the sea, in order to make ends meet.
Between Friday and Sunday, the film pulled in $9.31 million, which gives it a 54% market share. Its five day total comes to $13.1 million, according to Kobis. Kobis is a tracking service employed by the Korean Film Council. Smugglers has officially beat out Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One, which has held the top spot.
With the success of Smugglers, it has already received an invitation to both Locarno and Toronto film festivals.
Pixar’s Elemental has held on to its second place spot. Over the weekend, it brought in $2.85 million, with 17% market share, and an overall total of $43.8 million. This puts it on track to become the second highest grossing film in Korea within just a few days, Variety reports.
As far as releases coming from Korea itself, animated Super Wings: Maximum Speed grossed $175,000 over the weekend, bringing its total to $673,000. Pinkfong Sing-Along Movie 3: Catch the Gingerbread Man, a newly released kids film, brought in $165,000 over its five day total. Sci-fi action-drama The Moon will open on Wednesday, and has already taken in $124,000 in preview showings.
The weekend’s total saw $17.4 million at the box office, making it the fourth biggest weekend of 2023 for Korea.
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