‘The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure’ Grabs Pre-Holiday Korea Box Office Loot

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure” ran off with nearly half the weekend bullion at the South Korea box office.

On its heels was political drama-thriller “Kingmaker,” as local titles finally overthrew the long-running “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ahead of a public holiday.Most South Koreans will enjoy two consecutive public holidays on Monday (“Seotdal Geumeum” or New Year’s Eve) and Tuesday (Lunar New Year), meaning that the Friday to Sunday weekend was the first part of a five-day holiday season.

The three-day nationwide box office total was $5.58 million. The figure is an improvement on the previous weekend, but it was also lower than the first three weekends in January.

And box office in Korea remains far behind equivalent weekends in pre-COVID times. Considering that the chart was headed by two strongly-anticipated local titles, the weekend upturn barely deflects from a continuing weak outlook. “The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure” took 48% of the nationwide theatrical box office with its Friday to Sunday haul of $2.68 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service of the Korean Film Council (Kofic).