Korean film-box office

▲ This image provided by CJ ENM shows a scene from the Korean historical film "Harbin." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Korean film-box office

'Harbin' tops box office for 3rd consecutive weekend, surpasses 4 mln admissions

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- The Korean historical drama "Harbin" has maintained its position at the top of the box office for a third consecutive weekend, attracting over 4 million viewers.

The film drew an additional 308,000 viewers from Friday to Sunday, bringing its cumulative admissions to 4.18 million, according to data from the Korean Film Council on Monday. It is now the fifth most-watched Korean film released last year.

Directed by Woo Min-ho, the film has dominated the local box office since its release on Dec. 24. However, weekend admissions have declined steadily, from 903,000 during its opening weekend to 484,000 in the second weekend and 308,000 in the third.

The movie's initial break-even point was set at 6.5 million admissions but has been lowered to 5.8 million due to overseas sales and other revenue streams.

Set in 1909, "Harbin" tells the story of a group of Korean independence fighters, led by Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910), as they plot to assassinate Ito Hirobumi, Japan's first prime minister and resident-general of Korea, at Harbin Station in northern China. Korea was under brutal Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Actor Hyun Bin stars as Ahn, supported by a strong ensemble cast, including Park Jung-min, Jeon Yeo-been, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Jae-myung, Park Hoon and Lee Dong-wook.

In second place over the weekend was director Kwak Kyung-taek's disaster drama "Firefighters," which garnered 88,000 admissions, raising its cumulative total to 3.7 million -- the highest admissions count for a Korean film released this year.

The homegrown comedy "Forbidden Fairytale" secured third place with 65,000 viewers, followed by the children's movie "Pororo Movie: Underwater Adventure" with 56,000 and the American action-adventure film "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" with 54,000.

"Bogota: City of the Lost," the Korean crime action starring Song Joong-ki, dropped out of the top five, placing sixth in its second week of release.

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