‘Friend 2’ dominates box office in Korea

Korea’s hotly awaited crime drama “Friend 2” dethroned Hollywood’s “Thor: The Dark World” last weekend, according to the Korean Film Council yesterday.

Director Kwak Kyung-taek’s sequel to his massive 2001 hit accounted for more than half of all ticket sales over the weekend, attracting 1.07 million admissions, or 8.2 billion won ($7.8 million).

The original “Friend” rewrote box office records in 2001, selling 8.1 million tickets and becoming the top movie ever in Korea until 2004 when it was overtaken by “Silmido”

Since opening on Thursday, “Friend 2,” which stars Kim Woo-bin of the KBS drama “The Inheritors,” has made 10.3 billion won.

The “Thor” sequel made 2.6 billion won over the weekend to bring its cumulative box office to 19.6 billion won since Oct. 30.

In third was another Korean movie, “The Fives,” which made 1.9 billion won over the weekend from 261,725 admissions.

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s “Gravity” added another 1.3 billion won and has now made 28.4 billion won.

“Commitment,” which stars Choi Seung-hyun, aka T.O.P from the popular K-pop group Big Bang, fell to fifth, with 713 million won.

Sixth went to another Hollywood movie, the debut of Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor,” with 496 million won.

Seventh went to the Korean film “Accomplices,” which added 174 million won to bring its four-week total to 12.2 billion won.

The quasi-documentary “Black Gospel,” featuring actor Yang Dong-geun traveling to New York to learn about the origins of gospel music, opened in eighth, bringing in 16,609 admissions.

In 11th was a blast from the past, as the re-release of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” made 50.8 million won over the weekend.

BY LEE SUN-MIN [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]