Minari, starring Steven Yeun, accumulates $5.2mn over third weekend at the Korean box office

The Golden Globe-winning film Minari is having a success streak at the Korean box office chart for 18-consecutive days as of Saturday. The Lee Isaac Chung-directed film earned $1.09 million between Friday and Monday to top the box office in South Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), reports Variety. Minari, which released on 3 March in Korea, has accumulated about $5.2 million so far making it the third-highest scoring film of the year in the country. It is only bettered by Disney/Pixar’s Soul with $16.6 million to date, and Japanese animation Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train with $11.5 million. Minari, a semi-autobiographical movie starring Steven Yeun, Han Ye‑ri, Youn Yuh-Jung, revolves around a Korean immigrant family who sets up a farm in rural Arkansas in the 1980s to pursue the American dream. The film has also earned Oscar nominations in six categories, including director and screenplay nods for Chung as well as individual acting nominations for Yeun and Yuh-Jung, a notable accomplishment since the Asian ensembles from previous Oscar favourites like Parasite and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon earned no recognition from the academy’s acting branch, reports _The New York Times_ . Meanwhile, theatres in Korea are experiencing a decline in patrons due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In February, the total number of theatregoers stood at 3.1 million, experiencing a 57.8 percent slump from the same period last year. However, Korea Times reports it is up by 74 percent from January.