Pixar’s ‘Coco’ fails to knock off the surging ‘1987’

“1987: When the Day Comes” climbed up the box office rankings to claim the top spot in its third weekend. [CJ ENTERTAINMENT]

Disney-Pixar’s latest “Coco” may have taken home the Best Animated Motion Picture award at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, but its critical success failed to push the film to the top of the box office in its debut weekend in local theaters.

“Coco” debuted in third with 732,000 tickets sold at 1,177 screens from Friday to Sunday, accounting for 23.1 percent of the entire ticket sales. It finished close behind fantasy drama “Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds,” which sold 746,000 tickets at 985 screens, marking 23.7 percent of the total ticket sales.

But the gap between “Coco” and the period epic “1987: When the Day Comes” was not so close, with “1987” having climbed up the box office rankings in its third weekend to claim the first spot. The film, about the pro-democracy movement in the landmark year, sold 1.03 million tickets at 1,122 screens from Friday to Sunday, bringing its sales total to 5.8 million admissions.

Action adventure remake “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” slid to fourth with 328,000 tickets sold while the Matt Damon fronted comedy drama “Downsizing” rounded out the top five with 92,100 admissions sold.

Directed by Alexander Payne, “Downsizing” tells of a population of people who have chosen to shrink themselves to help save space and live a more lavish lifestyle, as their savings go farther in a miniature world. Another new release, “Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom” landed at 10th. The Japanese animated romance film, about an unhappy school girl hoping to run away from home, sold 13,500 tickets.

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