British spy-thriller “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is dominating the local box office, with more than 3.6 million tickets sold so far, the biggest non-Korean R-rated sales ever in the market.
Matthew Vaughn’s film nabbed the top spot on Korea’s box office chart on Thursday for 11-consecutive days, beating out other British flick “Imitation Game” and local comedy flick “Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island.”
As of Friday, the title has earned a cumulative 30 billion won ($27 million), since it debuted on Feb. 11, according to the state-run Korean Film Council.
A scene from “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” starring Colin Firth (left) and Taron Egerton. (20th Century Fox)
“Kingsman” is extremely popular here in comparison to other countries, becoming the second-largest market after the U.S., according to the distributor 20th Century Fox Korea.
The previous successful record for imported R-rated film was held by 2006 American film “300” viewed by 2.9 million, earning 18.7 billion won ($16.9 million).
Based on Mark Millar’s eponymous comic book, the 128-minute flick centers on veteran secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth), who selects a young, troubled protg, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) to join his secret organization Kingsman and offers him a chance to become a spy.
Samuel L. Jackson stars as the villain Mr. Valentine, who has a grand scheme to overthrow the world using SIM cards.
Meanwhile, three films that debuted on Thursday followed close behind on the chart. The local periodic flick “Empire of Lust” was placed second, followed by local comedy “Granny’s Got Talent” and Oscar-winning “Birdman,” in third and fourth place, respectively.
By Ahn Sung-mi (
sahn@heraldcorp.com)
