2002

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The Best Selling Films of 2002 (through May 5)

    Domestic Films                 Nationwide        Seoul           Release      Weeks
1.  "Public Enemy"                 2,987,900       1,144,300         Jan 25         8
2.  "The Way Home"                 2,805,000       1,132,100         Apr 5          5*
3.  "2009 Lost Memories"           2,263,800         889,700         Feb 1          6
4.  "A Funny Movie"                1,041,500         371,000         Apr 12         4*
5.  "Jungle Juice"                   795,396         280,277         Mar 22         4
6.  "Bad Guy"                        701,700         292,600         Jan 11         6
7.  "Ooh! LaLa Sisters"              630,000         189,800         Apr 26         2*
8.  "Crazy Thing Called Marriage"    603,693         210,276         Apr 26         2*
9.  "No Blood No Tears"              539,700         209,600         Mar 1          3
10. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance"     345,000         152,000         Mar 29         2

    Overall Figures                Nationwide        Seoul           Release      Weeks
1.  "Lord of the Rings" (US)       3,873,300       1,380,600         Jan 1**       11
2.  "Public Enemy" (Kor)           2,987,900       1,144,300         Jan 25         8
3.  "The Way Home" (Kor)           2,805,000       1,132,100         Apr 5          5*
4.  "2009 Lost Memories" (Kor)     2,263,800         889,700         Feb 1          6
5.  "Ocean's Eleven" (US)          1,353,000         593,000         Mar 1          5
6.  "The Others" (Fr/Sp/US)        1,173,800         636,200         Jan 11         8
7.  "A Beautiful Mind" (US)        1,165,000         631,000         Feb 22         7
8.  "A Funny Movie" (Kor)          1,041,500         371,000         Apr 12         4*
9.  "Jungle Juice" (Kor)             795,396         280,277         Mar 22         4
10. "Black Hawk Down" (US)           726,000         310,000         Feb 1          4

Seoul population: 10.32 million
Nationwide population: 47.9 million (~380 theaters, 800 screens)

** Although Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring opened on a few screens on Dec. 31, it had its full opening the next day.

Films in Korea are near-universally priced at 7000 won (~$6.00). The above figures indicate the cumulative number of tickets sold in each region. 'Weeks' indicates the number of weekends that a film placed in the top 10 performing films, and an asterisk indicates that the film is still playing in theaters.

Since these figures are taken from weekend box-office charts, they may be slightly below the film's final tally. Totals will be updated as more precise figures become available.

Sources: Korean Association of Film Art & Industry and the Korean Film Commission (KOFIC).

My Beautiful Girl, Mari

Director Lee Sung-gang

Mari tells the story of a boy named Namoo who lives in a seaside village. Several years after the death of his father, Namoo finds himself faced with further struggles: his grandmother is ill, his mother has a new boyfriend, and his best friend will move to Seoul at the end of the summer. Struggling with the prospect of further loss, Namoo begins to lose himself in fantasy, dreaming of a mysterious girl named Mari who leads him to another world.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Director Park Chan-wook

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance opens with the narration of Ryu, a deaf man with bleached green hair who works in a smelting factory. Ryu is desperate to find a kidney transplant for his dying sister, and he assures her he will do everything in his power to save her. When his initial plans fail, however, he and his girlfriend, a leftist with radical views, find themselves contemplating the unthinkable.