eFM News

[Anchor]

In this week's look at the local box office, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is now on release.

Our movie critic Jason Bechervaise gives us more details in this report.

[Reporter]

One year ago, "The Mummy" starring Tom Cruise surprised industry observers when it pulled in over 870,000 viewers breaking the opening day record on Memorial Day.

On Wednesday, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" proved this was no anomaly becoming the first film to surpass a whopping 1 million admissions on its first day, which fell on precisely the same public holiday.

Releasing films on public holidays enables the distributors to capitalize on the wider demographic buying tickets, and with the Hollywood studios realizing the importance of the Korean market, it means they are often keen to release films on such holidays, even it means releasing them in Korea before a film hits screens elsewhere.

With poor air quality and scorching temperatures enticing people to remain indoors, air-conditioned and comfortable cinemas at an affordable price are seen as a good alternative.

The success of "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", which is directed by J.A. Boyana and starts Chris Pratt also suggests that it will be a lucrative summer at the box office for the Hollywood and Korean studios.

With the Hollywood films tending to perform stronger in the early summer period, the sequels "Ant-Man and the Wasp", "Incredibles 2" and "Mission: Impossible -Fallout", should attract audiences in July.

Korean films, meanwhile, which usually dominate the latter summer season are also strongly placed with "In-rang", "Along with the Gods 2" and "The Spy Gone North" hitting screens in later July and early to mid-August.

Jason Bechervaise, eFM News.■