‘Revenant’ stays on top over cold, slow weekend

Local war drama “A Melody to Remember,” starring singer-turned-actor Yim Si-wan, debuted in second place in the slow weekend box office. [NEXT ENTERTAINMENT WORLD]

After a close competition at the weekend box office, “The Revenant” outperformed its new competitor, “A Melody to Remember,” by a thin margin, holding on to first place with only 1,650 more tickets sold.

However, because of the unprecedented cold wave that has engulfed the Korean Peninsula since last Wednesday, leading the weather agency to issue cold spell alerts for most parts of the country, including Seoul, local theaters saw the smallest audiences since the winter began.

According to the local Yonhap News Agency, the number of moviegoers on the fourth weekend of January decreased by 42.4 percent compared to last year, from 2.7 million to 1.6 million, the lowest in five years.

Alejandro G. Inarritu’s big-budget survival story sold around 400,000 tickets in its second week, bringing its two-week total to 1.5 million moviegoers.

The 19th-century period epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy has earned 12.3 billion won ($10.3 million) in Korean theaters so far.

Local war drama “A Melody to Remember,” starring up-and-coming actor Yim Si-wan from the K-pop group ZE:A, opened in second place with 398,355 tickets sold, taking in 3.1 billion won.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Lee Han, the film centers on the human side of the Korean War (1950-53) and a bereaved soldier named Han Sang-ryeol (Yim) who tries to restore hope by creating a children’s choir.

Disney-Pixar’s adventure flick “The Good Dinosaur” remained in third place, adding 146,700 moviegoers to its three-week total of 1.2 million, which roughly translates to 8.9 billion won.

“The Big Short,” a behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. financial crisis with an all-star cast including Brad Pitt and Christian Bale, debuted in fourth place with 143,097 tickets sold.

Another biographical film, “Steve Jobs” starring Michael Fassbender, got off to a moderate start in 10th place, with 32,672 tickets sold.

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

KOREA BOX OFFICE

1.The Revenant

2. A Melody to Remember

3. The Good Dinosaur