‘Okja’ opens at No. 4 at box office despite theatres boycott
SEOUL: Bong Joon-ho’s longawaited and much-talked-about Netflix film ‘Okja’ debuted at No. 4 in South Korean cinemas on Thursday, raking in 7.6 per cent of the daily market share according to the Korean Film Council’s KOBIS database.
Though the share may appear small, the number speaks quite loudly when examined closely as the film opened on only 94 screens across the country for a total 324 showings. There were 2,575 screens total in South Korea as of 2016, according to the Korean Film Council.
‘Okja’ debuted on about onetenth the number of screens of the three higher-ranking films, which are all handled by major Korean distributors that also own the country’s largest theatre chains. Megabox Plus M’s ‘Anarchists From Colony’, a period piece by star filmmaker Lee Joon-ik, topped charts as it debuted on 995 screens on the same day as ‘Okja’ (44.9 per cent of the market share). In second was CJ Entertainment’s ‘Real’, an actioner backed by Chinese giant Alibaba Pictures starring Asian superstar Kim Soo-hyun and former K-pop singer Sulli, which opened on 918 screens. At No. 3 was ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’, which showed on 859 screens via Lotte Entertainment. The Hollywood franchise opened last week in South Korea on June 21, debuting at No. 1 as it showed on 1,739 screens.
The limited distribution is due to how the country’s three major cinemas, CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox, which are each sister companies of top distributors, refused to show ‘Okja’ over Netflix’s policy of no hold-back time.
In South Korea, films are released on streaming platforms about three weeks after their big-screen release. Though the film directed by one of the country’s most beloved auteurs enjoyed high critical praise, ‘Okja’ had also stirred up debates on the “death of cinema” when it premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Fans can also watch the film on the big screen at the upcoming Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Asia’s largest genre event, which is slated to run July 13-23 in Seoul’s satellite city of Bucheon.
Exec-produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, ‘Okja’ is about a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational biofood company from exploiting her best friend, the massive, titular animal named Okja.