The Korean movie "V.I.P.," starring Lee Jong Suk and Jang Dong-gun, has finally amassed one million audience in one week.
According to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the film recorded total admissions of 1.08 million and total gross of US$7.8 million as of August 29, or seven days after it was released on August 23.
The movie opened at the top of the Korean box office with 174,018 tickets sold and first-day gross of $1.17 million and dislodged "A Taxi Driver," which maintained its No. 1 position for three weeks.
At the weekly box office covering the period August 25 to 27, "V.I.P" posted total admissions of 598,713 and collected $4.54 million to remain No. 1.
Despite being at the top, the film proved to be slow in attracting audience compared to "A Taxi Driver" and "Midnight Runners."
"A Taxi Driver," a film about a taxi driver who takes a German journalist to cover the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea in 1980, reached 1.43 million in total admission on its second day while "Midnight Runners" breached the one million audience mark on its fourth day.
As of August 29, "A Taxi Driver," starring Song Kang Ho and Thomas Kretschmann, has sold 11.44 million tickets and earned $80.78 million to become the highest grossing film in Korea this year. "Midnight Runners," starring Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul, has 4.95 million in total admission and $34.83 million in earnings.
According to KOFIC, "A Taxi Driver" has also earned $1 million at the US box office. It was released in 41 screens in the US on August 11 and reached $1 million on August 24. Song Kang Ho won the Cheval Noir for Best Actor at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada.
