A Korean remake of “The Intern” toppled Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” at the South Korean box office this weekend, ending the epic’s six-week grip on the No. 1 spot.
The comedy-drama sold roughly 275,000 tickets from Friday through Sunday and has reached about 404,000 admissions since opening Wednesday, the Korean Film Council reported Monday. No Korean title had led the weekend chart in about 50 days, since “Hope.”
“The Odyssey” drew about 256,800 viewers and still won the revenue race, earning $2.3 million against $1.9 million for the newcomer. Its local gross stands at $91.1 million. Its cumulative admissions total 11.2 million. Nolan became the first director in Korea with two 10-million-admission hits. The film is closing in on the record set by “Avengers: Infinity War,” the country’s fifth-highest-grossing foreign release.
Kim Do-young directs the remake for Warner Bros. Korea. Choi Min-sik plays a retired executive who joins a fashion startup as a senior intern, and Han So-hee plays the young founder who employs him. Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway held those roles in Nancy Meyers’ 2015 original. Audiences have responded warmly. The film holds a 95 percent Golden Egg score on CGV and a 9.1 rating on Lotte Cinema. It topped the daily chart on each of its first five days. It opened with about 61,000 admissions.
The path ahead looks steeper. Weekend attendance in the 200,000 range leaves little cushion, and three films open Sept. 23 ahead of the Chuseok holiday. They are Hur Jin-ho’s thriller “The Assassin(s),” starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho; “Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub”; and “Possible Love.” “The Assassin(s)” already leads presales at 29 percent, ahead of “The Odyssey” at 22.2 percent and “Tazza” at 13.9 percent. It ended Nolan’s 49-day streak atop that ranking.
SBS News in Seoul noted that “The Odyssey” retains formidable stamina and could reach 12 million admissions if it holds up through the holiday rush. The horror title “Obsession” took third place with about 131,500 admissions.
