[Korean Box Office] ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ races to top spot

“Maze Runner: The Death Cure” outdid another newcomer to top the Korean box office on the first weekend, data showed Monday.

The sci-fi series’ third installment sold 868,422 tickets from Friday to Sunday, bringing its five-day total audience to 1.26 million, according to the Korean Film Council.

This is higher than the 720,000 recorded by “Maze Runner” in 2014 and the 1.07 million by the second installment “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” in their first weekend in South Korea.

“Keys to the Heart” came in second by attracting 646,856 moviegoers.

The local comedy-drama starring Lee Byung-hun and Park Jung-min revolves around a former Asian boxing champion who comes to live with his younger half-brother who suffers from savant syndrome but is a genius piano player.

Coming in third was Walt Disney and Pixar’s animated film “Coco,” seen by 565,134 people.

The movie tells the story of a young boy named Miguel who wants to follow his dreams of pursuing music, despite his family not allowing it.

Two Korean box-office smash hits - “1987: When the Day Comes” and “Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds” - continued their long run at the box office at No. 4 and 5, respectively.

“1987” brought in 464,504 audiences in its fourth weekend for a cumulative total of 6.67 million, while “Along With the Gods” added 362,221 to its domestic total of 13.5 million.

“Gods” became the fourth most-viewed film of all time in Korea on Sunday after “Roaring Currents” (2014, 17.6 million), “Ode to My Father” (2014, 14.26 million) and “Avatar” (2009, 13.62 million). Yonhap