Studio Ghibli’s latest animation tops Korean box office

A scene from ″The Boy and the Heron″ [DAEWON MEDIA]

"The Boy and the Heron," the newest animated film from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, topped the weekend box office, data showed Monday.

The Studio Ghibli animation attracted around 598,000 moviegoers from Friday to Sunday, accounting for 60.5 percent of ticket sales, according to data from the Korean Film Council.

Since its release Wednesday, the fantasy film has landed atop the local box office, with its cumulative number of attendees reaching 947,000. It is on track to surpass 1 million admissions Monday.

Based on the 1937 novel, "How Do You Live?" by Genzaburo Yoshino, the animation revolves around an 11-year-old boy, Mahito Maki, who happens to meet a talking heron and is led to a fantastical world through an abandoned tower in his new town.

The Korean romantic comedy "Love Reset," starring Kang Ha-neul and Jung So-min, slid to the No. 2 spot after remaining atop the box office for three weeks in a row since its opening on Oct. 3.

Yonhap