Cinema rides yuletide wave

Published on 2010/12/27 | Source

A scene from the new thriller "The Yellow Sea"

By Lee Hyo-won

Thousands of movie-goers filled theaters across the country last weekend for a rather noir Christmas treat, to see the dark thriller "The Yellow Sea" instead of the much anticipated, latest Harry Potter film.

The film featuring the hit-making cast and crew of "The Chaser" - director Na Hong-jin and acting duo Ha Jung-woo and Kim Yun-seok - hit the 1 million audience mark as of Monday after a five-day run in theaters since opening Dec. 22. Despite being limited to viewers aged 18 and over, it sold a whopping number of 815,177 tickets over Dec. 24 and 25, according to the Korean Film Council.

The action-packed drama is about a taxi driver (Ha) in China's Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture whose wife is earning money in Korea. After losing contact with her, he arrives in Korea in search of her whereabouts, but things get complicated when he becomes tangled up with an assassin (Kim).

Also catering to Christmas-time cinema-goers is the local family comedy "Hello Ghost", which currently ranks second in the box office. The Cha Tae-hyeon-powered slapstick, about a group of ghosts haunting an unsuspecting young man, drew in over 738,000 people during Christmas weekend.

Next in line comes the first part of the Harry Potter finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1", which fell two slots down from its first place ranking last week. It drew about 710,000 moviegoers over the weekend. Some 2.1 million have flocked to theaters to see it since its release on Dec. 16.

Trailing behind the tale of the boy wizard is the 3D oceanic animation "Sammy's Adventure: The Secret Passage" in fourth place (233,446 viewers) and the homegrown romantic comedy "Petty Romance" in fifth (157,936 viewers).