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| A scene from the film, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," the latest movie in the Marvel series, notched a massive opening day at the Korean box office, Wednesday, by bringing in 7.4 billion won ($5.9 million).
That is the highest grossing opening of any movie during the pandemic, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). It surpassed 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" which opened with a 6.2 billion won.
As of Thursday 9:30 a.m., the "Doctor Strange" sequel attracted over 1.3 million ticket sales, grossing over 13.7 billion won. It topped over 1 million presold tickets.
The flm stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen as Dr. Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff, respectively. Dr. Strange dives back into the multiverse and unleashes more threats than he can handle, including what appears to be an evil version of himself. It is directed by Sam Raimi, well known for creating the "Spider-Man" trilogy as well as the "Evil Dead" franchise.
Industry analysts believe the film can set new weekend box office records. Since 2020, the film industry has experienced its worst years ever in box office history. However, allowing consumption of food inside movie theaters is helping to bring audiences back to cinemas.
According to data by KOFIC, 968,722 people watched movies at cinemas for the week from April 25 when the in-theater consumption of food was reintroduced after a 13-month ban. This represents a 37.5 percent increase from the previous week between April 18 and 24.
Several anticipated films are poised to swing in to save theaters in coming months. Hollywood's forthcoming sure-to-be blockbusters, "Jurassic World: Dominion," "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Thor: Love and Thunder," will come out this summer.
Some of most-anticipated Korean films that will hit theaters in the coming months are Cannes-invited "Broker," "Decision to Leave" as well as multi-starrer "Alienoid," action horror film "The Witch Part 2. The Other One" and historical naval battle film "Hansan."
On the contrary, over-the-top platforms, which largely benefited from a new content consumption habit during the pandemic times, are losing paid subscribers. For the first time in a decade, Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers worldwide in the first quarter.
