[Korean Box Office] ‘Thor’ crushes the competition in debut weekend

“The Outlaws,” which sat pretty atop the Korean weekend box office for the past two weeks, saw its reign end thanks to Disney-Marvel’s latest superhero film.

“Thor: Ragnarok,” starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo and Cate Blanchett as the new villain, thundered into Korea’s weekend box office. The movie sold 1.58 million tickets at 1,639 screens from Friday to Sunday, accounting for an impressive 63.8 percent of the entire ticket sales. Since its release on Oct. 25, the action flick has sold a total of 2.22 million tickets as of Sunday.

The third film in the franchise, directed by a New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, centers on Thor (Hemsworth), the God of Thunder, and his fight against the all-powerful Hela (Blanchett) who tries to destroy his home of Asgard. His quest leads him into a deadly gladiatorial fight against the Hulk (Ruffalo).

The film, infused with Waititi’s trademark oddball comedy, has raked in a total of 13.38 billion won ($11.9 million) over three days.

Far behind in second place was “The Outlaws.” The film, starring Ma Dong-seok and Yoon Kye-sang, sold 476,000 tickets in its fourth weekend, taking up a 19.3 percent of the entire weekend ticket sales. It has so far sold 5.85 million admissions.

The movie, about a merciless boss from a Korean-Chinese crime organization and a local police detective, has become the fourth best-selling R-rated movie in Korea, pushing down “The War of Flower” which sold 5.68 million tickets in 2006.

Japanese teen romance “Let Me Eat Your Pancreas” landed at third in its debut weekend. The film, which made its local premiere at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month, sold 135,000 tickets over the weekend, bringing its total ticket sales to 199,000 admissions.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]