The South Korean cinema box office fell to its lowest level of the year over the latest weekend. Nationwide theatrical earnings in a territory which before COVID was the world’s fourth largest were barely over $6 million.

“John Wick: Chapter 4” lead the weekend chart from Japanese anime “Suzume” and Korean sports drama “Rebound” in a top three repeat from a week earlier.

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“John Wick 4” earned $2.51 million in its second weekend of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a 38% week-on-week decline and represented a 41% share of the total Korean box office market. It also gave the film a cumulative total of $9.73 million since release on April 12.

“Suzume,” released on March 8, enjoyed a 20% market share and earned $1.24 million over the weekend. That lifted its cumulative to $38.1 million, extending its lead as the highest grossing film of the current year.

“Rebound” dropped 42% in its third week of release. Its $528,000 weekend score took its 19-day cumulative to $4.34 million.

The highest-placed new release of the weekend was “Ghost Station,” a Japan-Korea production that earned $435,000 between Friday and Sunday and $612,000 over its five opening days.
Nicolas Cage-starring “Renfield” opened in seventh place with $142,000 over the weekend and $289,000 over its opening five days.

In a possible sign of better things to come, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” earned $137,000 from previews. Its official release is set for Wednesday, some two weeks later than in many other territories.

The box office total over the latest weekend was just $6.09 million, the second weekend in April that the industry has plumbed new depths. Post-COVID, it appears to be difficult to persuade Korean consumers to watch films in cinemas. But that is creating a vicious cycle. As audiences stay away, distributors of Korean-made films are becoming increasingly reluctant to commit to theatrical releases and dates.

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One of the minor consequences of the Korean theatrical slowdown and shortage of new titles has been a steady stream of re-releases. A week earlier, 2017 film “The Greatest Showman” took tenth spot in the Korean chart. Over the latest weekend, 2010 film “Inception” took ninth place with a handy $120,000.

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