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‘The Martian’ dominates S. Korean box office

October 12, 2015

(Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — The Hollywood blockbuster “The Martian” dominated the local box office over the weekend, setting a record for the biggest opening weekend in the market, data showed Monday.

Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, the space epic drew 1.53 million admissions at 1,132 screens across the country for three days starting Friday, according to the data from the Korean Film Council.

On the first day of the premier on Friday alone, the sci-fi film attracted 271,017 moviegoers, the largest opening of all time, the data showed. The film took up 48.3 percent of sales as well.

Based on Andy Weir’s book of the same title, “The Martian” tells the story of an astronaut who has to survive a fierce storm during a manned mission to Mars and his colleagues’ desperate efforts to rescue him.

The blockbuster shoved the U.S. comedy “The Intern” to second place, which accounted for 15.1 percent of the total.

Starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, it is the story of a 70-year-old widower who becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site founded and run by a 30-year-old woman. Since its opening here last month, it has been seen by 2.27 million viewers.

Following the two Hollywood movies are South Korean films, the action thriller “The Advocate: A missing body” with 13.8 percent, the period drama “The Throne” with 7.2 percent and “The Accidental Detective” with 6.3 percent, according to the data.