The Odyssey rules South Korea again with $3.9 million sixth weekend
The Odyssey stayed top of the South Korean box office for a sixth straight weekend over Sept. 11-13, holding more than half the market against newer titles. The run extends an unbroken stretch at No. 1 since the film launched in the country on Aug. 5, according to figures reported by Variety.
It earned $3.9 million over the three days from 449,474 admissions, the industry term for tickets sold. The film played on 1,648 screens and took 51.4% of all weekend business in South Korea. Six weeks in. Still first.
The cumulative total now stands at $89.6 million from 10,782,715 admissions in South Korea. That count covers the full run since early August. It puts the film well past the 10-million admissions line, a threshold that matters a lot to local distributors and theatre owners.
Obsession finished second in its second weekend. It earned $1.4 million from 176,479 admissions across 845 screens, good for 18.6% of the weekend market. Its cumulative total reached $3.7 million from 474,818 viewers.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day placed third with $544,123 from 84,719 admissions over Sept. 11-13. The whole South Korean market totalled $7.6 million for the weekend, down from $9.8 million the week before. Fewer big new releases. Less money overall.
The numbers come from KOBIS, the box-office tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. KOBIS says its box-office section publishes daily, weekly and weekend statistics based on real-time ticketing data collected up to the previous day, as noted by KOBIS. It also cautions that previous-day figures are converted after midnight and can change after daily closing because of late screening reports and corrections.
Day-by-day counts help explain the weekend shape. The Odyssey drew 191,119 viewers on Sept. 12 and 164,665 viewers on Sept. 13 in South Korea. Long films turn over fewer shows per screen per day, and this is a long one at 172 minutes and 23 seconds.
In South Korea the film is listed as a United States production, classified as a general film and rated for viewers aged 15 and over, according to KOFIC.
What makes this stand out is staying power rather than a single big weekend. Most films fade after two or three weeks as screens shift to new releases. The Odyssey kept 1,648 screens in its sixth weekend and still claimed more than half of ticket sales.
