Korea Box Office: ‘John Wick 4’ Shoots to Weekend Top Spot

Patrick Frater
Updated ·3 min read
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“John Wick: Chapter 4” easily outgunned Japanese animation film Suzume to claim top spot at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend.

The American action title earned $4.05 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a nearly 50% market share, continuing a polarization or clustering around a single title that has become familiar of late in Korea, a market that formerly had greater diversity and width.

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Over the five days since its Wednesday opening, “John Wick 4” earned $5.87 million.

“Suzume,” which enjoyed five weeks as the top title, slipped in to second place with $1.92 million, a figure that still represented 23% of the total weekend box office market. Since releasing on March 8, the title has earned $36.9 million, a total which makes it the top film released in 2023 in Korea, overtaking another Japanese animation “The First Slam Dunk.” That score is also bigger than the 2023 performance of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” although “Avatar 2” has over $100 million including its December 2022 takings.

“Rebound,” a Korean sports drama film, took $921,000 in its second week of release. It slipped from second place to third as its weekend score eased by 41%. After 12 days of release, “Rebound” has a running total of $3.57 million.

“Killing Romance,” a Korean drama film about an actress who seeks to get out of her marriage by murdering her husband, opened on Friday and took in fourth place with $475,000.

“The First Slam Dunk” still remains on court. It earned $310,000 for fifth place in its 15th week of release in Korea. Its long-playing aggregate is $35.8 million.

New release Japanese anime “Lonely castle in the Mirror,” a fantasy about a group of teenagers who transit their bedroom mirrors into a sanctuary, did not perform on the same level. It opened with $114,000 over the weekend and $183,000 over its first five days.

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” earned a modest $88,000 in its third week of release and has an aggregate of $2.21 million. “Air” earned $73,000 in its second weekend, for a 12-day total of $756,000.

European animation “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness” earned $47,000 in its fifth weekend, for a cumulative of $467,000, while the reissue of “The Greatest Showman” earned $42,800.

The nationwide box office weekend aggregate picked up by 25% to reach $8.42 million. But there has not been a $10 million weekend since January and Korea’s theatrical business remains at distressingly low levels. With a performance that would have been considered as humdrum in pre-COVID years, “John Wick 4” is already the eighth biggest film of 2023 after just five days in Korean theaters.

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