‘Face Reader’ scores a huge opening

As expected, the Korean period drama “The Face Reader” dominated the weekend box office, accounting for more than 63 percent of admissions. It raked in more than 1,891,967 ticket sales, or 13.8 billion won ($12.7 million).

Trailing behind was another local film and last week’s No. 1, “The Spy,” with 377,661 admissions.

The battle between the two star-laden films was highly anticipated for the Chuseok holidays, but “Face Reader” won the showdown easily.

Since opening on Sept. 11, “Face Reader” has pulled in 2.6 million admissions compared to 1.66 million for “The Spy” since its opening on Sept. 5.

Meanwhile, the third to sixth spots were all taken by Hollywood films - “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” was third with 176,364 admissions, “Monsters University” had 175,272, “Percy Jackson and Sea of Monsters” had 158,637 and “Despicable Me 2” was sixth with 149,014. All four films were released Thursday and are targeted toward children and young people.

Taking big tumbles were last weekend’s second- and third-place hits, “Now You See Me,” which has only 23,406 admissions, and “Hide and Seek” with 18,679.

The summer blockbuster “Snowpiercer” landed in the ninth spot with 15,916 admissions, bringing its total to 9.27 million admissions, or 66.4 billion won.

The latest movie by art-house veteran Hong Sang-soo, “Our Sunhi,” opened in 10th with 10,102 admissions.

BY CARLA SUNWOO [carlasunwoo@joongang.co.kr]