'Confidential Assignment' dethrones 'The King' at weekend box office

A Korean comedy-action film about an inter-Korean secret police mission claimed the top spot at the box office over the weekend, dethroning a local political thriller, data showed on Tuesday.

"Confidential Assignment" topped the chart, amassing 1.9 million viewers in its second weekend of Jan. 27-29, according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council.

"The King," which premiered on the same day as "Confidential Assignment," fell to No. 2 with 1.2 million moviegoers. The movie had ranked No. 1 last week.

Starring Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin, "Confidential Assignment" has attracted about 2.7 million moviegoers during the four-day Lunar New Year holiday weekend to reach 4.5 million in accumulated viewers, according to its local distributor CJ Entertainment.

Helmed by Kim Sung-hoon of "A Wonderful Moment" (2012), the movie tells the story of two cops from South and North Korea who team up for a joint covert operation to hunt down a North Korean crime ring that has sneaked into the South. 

"The King" directed by Han Jae-rim tells the story of an underdog prosecutor who rises to power after meeting a senior prosecutor with dark connections to political heavyweights and influential government officials but suddenly falls from grace and loses his influence with the change of government. 

The film featuring Zo In-sung also exceeded the 4 million milestone on the last day of the four-day holiday, according to its domestic distributer New Entertainment World.

Coming in third on the weekend chart was Disney's new animated film "Moana." It added 298,465 viewers to its domestic total of 1.7 million.

Rounding out the top five were Sony's "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter," the sixth and allegedly final installment of the 15-year-old horror-action-sci-fi franchise, and the animated Japanese film "Your Name." The two films collected 265,354 and 154,654 viewers, respectively. (Yonhap)