'Beauty and the Beast' enchants S. Korean box office

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" smashed the local box office on its opening weekend, taking up nearly 67 percent of all ticket sales, data showed Monday.

The live-action version of the animated classic, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, garnered 1.4 million views over the March 17-19 weekend, supplanting the previous No. 1, "Kong: Skull Island," according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council.

A promotional poster for "Beauty and the Beast" (Yonhap)

The King Kong film was at a distant second with 317,687 admissions while "Logan," a Hollywood superhero movie starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, came in the third, selling 158,723 tickets at theaters nationwide.

"Part-time Spy" was the only Korean film in the top five. The comedy-action flick starring Kang Ye-won and Han Chae-a ranked No. 4 with 89,266 views on its debut weekend.

A promotional poster for "Part-time Spy" (Yonhap)

Six-time Academy Award winner "La La Land" climbed a spot to fifth even after being in theaters more than three months. The American musical film sold 20,285 tickets to increase its domestic total to 3.4 million. (Yonhap)