'F9' tops 1m admissions in first week of release

"F9," the latest chapter in the "Fast and Furious" series, has topped 1 million attendees in its first week of release in South Korea, local box office data showed Monday.

The action blockbuster attracted 628,000 people over the Friday-Sunday period, bringing its combined total to 1.13 million, according to the data from the Korean Film Council.

It became the fourth title to surpass the 1 million threshold in 2021, following Disney-Pixar fantasy "Soul," Japanese adventure animated film "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train" and US immigration film "Minari."

But it is the first time in about 10 months that a film has sold more than 1 million tickets in its first week in the box office. Last summer, two homegrown films, "Peninsula" and "Deliver Us From Evil," achieved the feat.

Released last Wednesday, "F9" has been making an impressive run in the pandemic-hit Korean box office.

It posted 400,000 viewers on the opening day to set the biggest first-day score since the pandemic began early last year.

The film drew 265,000 people on Saturday alone, beating the previous single weekend-day record of 130,000 set by "Soul" in its first week in January.

Coming in second on the weekend box office chart was Japanese animated film "Stand By Me Doraemon 2" with 27,000 viewers. It was followed by "Demon Slayer" with 19,000 and the US thriller "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" with 9,000. (Yonhap)