‘Money’ hits the jackpot in its debut weekend: ‘Captain Marvel’ falls to second place, but sets records along the way

“Money” took the Korean box office crown in its debut weekend, dethroning Marvel’s action flick “Captain Marvel.” Local crime flick “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage” and thriller “Idol” took the third and fourth spots. [SHOWBOX]

The Korean film “Money” shot to the top of the Korean box office over the weekend, knocking off Marvel’s female superhero-led flick “Captain Marvel” along the way. With “Captain Marvel” in second, local title “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage” rounded up the top three.

Even before its official release last Wednesday, director Park Nu-ri’s crime flick “Money” topped the domestic box office, selling a total of 88,000 tickets by last Tuesday through pre-screenings.

From Friday to Sunday, the movie sold 1.1 million tickets at 1,431 screens, accounting for 59.2 percent of the weekend’s total ticket-sales revenue. According to the Korean Film Council, the movie surpassed 1.5 million viewers in total and has raked in about 13.6 billion won ($11.9 million) since its release.

The movie centers on Jo Il-hyeon (Ryu Jun-yeol), who becomes a stock broker in the hopes of becoming filthy rich. But he does not fare well at his stock company and is on the brink of being fired because of his lack of expertise in the field. That’s when he meets a man nicknamed Beonhopyo (Yoo) - which literally translates to “number card” - who offers him a dangerous and illegal deal to become rich.

“Captain Marvel,” which has topped Korea’s weekend box office for the past two weeks, sold more than 380,000 tickets at 947 screens over the weekend. It hit the five-million-ticket sales mark on Saturday, becoming the second best-selling movie in Korea this year, following the comedy “Extreme Job.”

The film centers on Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) who begins to unravel the truth about her identity as a Kree warrior after she lands on Earth during a fight with the Skrulls, an enemy alien race.

Coming in at third was another new release, “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage.” The crime flick sold 124,000 tickets at 772 screens in its debut weekend, bringing its total ticket sales to 189,000.

The film revolves around the bad detective, Jo Pil-ho (Lee Sun-kyun), who turns a blind eye to corruption and accepts bribes. During an evil plan he carries out one day, an accidental explosion occurs, killing his right-hand man Ki-cheol (Jung Ga-ram). Pil-ho, who was also at the scene, becomes the prime suspect of the accident, and the prosecutors start searching for evidence in order to charge him. Pil-ho meanwhile searches for his own way out.

Director Lee Su-jin’s new feature “Idol” - which was recently invited to the Berlin International Film Festival ? debuted at fourth. The thriller sold 80,600 tickets at 797 screens, raking in 725 million won in total.

The high-concept film “Escape Room” slipped three spots during its second weekend and rounded up the top five, drawing nearly 64,000 viewers at 496 screens over the weekend.

BY YEO YE-RIM [yeo.yerim@joongang.co.kr]