Animated Japanese film dominates S. Korean weekend box office

January 9, 2017

SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) — The hit Japanese animation “Your Name” has snatched the box office crown from local blockbuster film “Master” in South Korea over the weekend, data showed on Monday.

According the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council, the Japanese fantasy animation attracted 837,556 moviegoers over its first weekend, making the total number of local attendance to 1.18 million.

The Makoto Shinkai film, which had also previously topped the box offices of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan, depicts the story of two teenagers who accidentally switch bodies.

It pushed South Korean action-flick “Master,” which had been in the lead for two weeks since the day of its release, to the runner-up position with 562,102 in attendance, although the film already exceeded 6.5 million in accumulated viewers.

The Hollywood sci-fi “Passengers” and American musical animation “Sing” came in third and fourth, selling 351,022 and 183,357 tickets, respectively.

Next came the Russian animated movie “The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice,” which was seen by 170,476 viewers.

The poster of Japanese animated film "Your Name."

The poster of Japanese animated film “Your Name.”