Crime action thriller 'On the Line' dominates local box offices
The crime action movie, “On the Line,” has topped the local box office for nine consecutive days. Courtesy of CJ ENM
By Lee Gyu-lee
The crime action film, “On the Line,” has been soaring in local box offices, topping the charts for nine consecutive days. The thriller flick landed at the top of the box office chart on its opening day, Sept. 15, with about 47,000 ticket sales, grossing 413 million won ($352,000).
It has been going strong since, accumulating 7.5 billion won ($6.4 million) gross from 762,000 in total ticket sales.
“On the Line” also won the Chuseok holiday box office race, which ran from Sept. 18 through 22, garnering 569,000 ticket sales and earning 5.7 billion won ($4.9 million) over the period.
Co-directed by the twin brother duo of Kim Gok and Kim Sun, who helmed the horror films, "White" (2011) and "Horror Stories 3" (2016), the film revolves around former police officer Han Seo-joon (Byun Yo-han).
After losing most of his fortune in a voice phishing scam, he decides to take matters into his own hands and heads to China to get revenge on the criminal gang behind it, led by Mr. Kwak (Kim Mu-yeol).
A scene from the drama film, "Miracle" / Courtesy of CJ ENM
The drama, “Miracle,” which also premiered on Sept. 15, came in second over the long holiday weekend with 274,000 ticket sales, collecting 2.5 billion won ($2.1 million) gross.
As of Thursday, it has accumulated a total of about 366,000 ticket sales and earned 3.5 billion won ($2.9 million) gross.
The heart-warming film, inspired by a true story, follows the story of math prodigy Joon-kyung (Park Jeong-min), set in 1986.
Living in a small rural town in North Gyeongsang Province, Joon-kyung has a five-hour commute to school, despite the fact that there is a railway running through his town. He comes up with a plan to build a train station in his hometown and joins hands with his neighbors to obtain approval for the station.
“Miracle” is directed by Lee Jang-hoon, who helmed the romance drama, "Be With You" (2018).
The third place on the holiday box office chart went to Marvel Studios' latest superhero flick, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” It saw a little over 252,000 ticket sales over the holiday, grossing 2.6 billion won ($2.2 million).
The action blockbuster stormed to the top of local box office sales on its opening day on Sept. 1, with 138,149 tickets sold, amounting to 1.4 billion won ($1.1 million) in gross sales. It dominated the chart for 14 consecutive days, before slipping to fourth on Sept. 15, then moving back to third place since then.
As of Thursday, “Shang-Chi” has collected a total of 1.6 million ticket sales, earning 16.3 billion won ($13.9 million) gross.
The film starring Marvel's first Asian superhero revolves around the martial arts master, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), who gets drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization, and is forced to confront his past.