Korea Box Office: ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Opens on Top, as ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songs and Snakes’ Struggles

Patrick Frater
·2-min read

Mystery-horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” landed on top of the South Korean cinema box office. But fellow new release title “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songs and Snakes” managed only a fourth placed start.

“Five Nights” earned $1.78 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. Over its five-day opening period, it built a total of $2.55 million.

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“The Marvels,” which had topped the chart a week earlier, suffered a painful 71% slump. It managed second place with $689,000 over the weekend, for a 12-day cumulative of $4.84 million.

Japanese animation, “The Boy and the Heron” was close behind in third place, with $662,000 over the weekend. After nearly four weeks on release in Korea, it has a cumulative total of $14.4 million.

“The Ballad of Songs and Snakes” earned $636,000 between Friday and Sunday. Over its full five-day opening period it managed $925,000.

“Love Reset,” a former chart topper, held on to fifth place in its seventh weekend of release. It managed $249,000 for a cumulative of $16.2 million. Surprisingly, that modest total makes “Love Reset” the fourth best-performing Korean-produced film of the year.

Korean crime drama, “The Boys” followed with $217,000 for a $3.31 million total after three weeks on release.

Re-released 2022 Japanese romantic fantasy, “Even if this Love Disappears From the World Tonight” claimed seventh place. Its cumulative stands at $9.0 million.

A re-released Batman movie, “The Dark Knight” earned $145,000 in eighth place (ninth place by ticket sales). Including its 2008 total, its Korean cumulative stands at $22 million, Kobis reports.

Bringing up the rear, European kids’ animation film “My Fairy Troublemaker” debuted with $128,000, while Korean crime action title “The Wild” took $118,000 over the weekend and $192,000 over its opening five days.

Overall, the nationwide cinematic total in Korea was worth $5.92 million. That continues the sub-par trend that set in again at the end of summer.

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