Spy film ‘Kingsman’ sneaks to 1st place in Korea

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Spy film ‘Kingsman’ sneaks to 1st place in Korea


Foreign films dominated the local box office during the weekend, with Colin Firth’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Imitation Game” vying for first place.

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” the scandalous film based on the erotic romance novel of the same title by E. L. James, debuted in fourth place.

“Kingsman: The Secret Service” climbed to first place in its third weekend with an audience of 597,908 choosing to see the film over the weekend. It has amassed 3.3 million viewers so far, making 5 billion won ($4.5 million) in Korea - a noteworthy result considering its 19 rating.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn of “Kick Ass,” the highly entertaining spy film intelligently merges action scenes - taken on by Firth for the first time - with humor that mostly derives from Samuel Jackson’s role as a villain who vomits when he sees blood. Comedy is also apparent with Eggsy (Taron Egerton), an unemployed London youth aspiring to join the exclusive Kingsman spy circle.

“Sherlock” star Cumberbatch’s “The Imitation Game” was in the second slot with 312,100 tickets sold in its second weekend in Korea.

Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, a genius mathematician from Britain who helped break the Nazi Enigma code during World War II.

Co-star Keira Knightly plays Turing’s fiance and colleague Joan Clarke.

Domestic film “Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island” was in third with 3.6 million viewers in total since it opened on Feb. 11.

In fourth place was “Fifty Shades of Grey,” directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, which topped the U.S. box office for two weeks in a row until this week. It sold 161,384 tickets in Korea, taking in 1 billion won.

Critics were concerned about whether the novel could be successfully adapted to the screen by a director who has only made one film in the past. However, the provocative relationship between college undergraduate Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) and successful entrepreneur Christian Grey (Jaime Dornan) was able to lure enough of an audience to land itself in the top five on the box office.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]
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