Korean Films Stage Late Summer Box Office Revival Taking Top Three Weekend Chart Places

Three local movies took the top positions at the South Korean box office over the weekend for the first time this year.

The chart was headed by “Hostage Missing Celebrity,” which earned close to $4 million.Produced by Filmmaker R&k and distributed by Next Entertainment World, “Hostage” is a comedy-action movie starring the enduringly-popular, rubber-faced Hwang Jung-min.

He plays a celebrity, unimaginatively called Jung-min, who at first believes that his kidnapping is merely a prank.

But as the ordeal continues, both he and his tormentors become more desperate.

It was directed by first-timer Pil Gam-seong.Data from the Kobis tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council showed “Hostage” to be followed by last week’s winner “Sinkhole” and another former chart topper “Escape From Mogadishu.” Weekend scores were $3.92 million from 1,285 screens, $2.77 million from 1,250 screens and $1.82 million from 966 screens, respectively.After five days in cinemas “Hostage” has a $5.41 million total.

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