‘Tunnel’ tops box office for third weekend, draws over 6 million viewers

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) — Korean disaster flick “Tunnel” has claimed the top spot at the box office for a third weekend in a row, bringing in more than 6 million viewers nationwide, data showed Monday.

According to the official box office tally from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), a state agency for promoting homegrown films, the movie added 664,789 to its domestic total of 6,026,925 over the Aug. 26-28 weekend.

Starring Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doona and Oh Dal-su, the film has topped the daily box office chart for 19 straight days, the longest period for any film that opened this year.

It surpassed the 6 million mark on Saturday, the 18th day of running, becoming the sixth film that reached the milestone this year in the country.

Directed by Kim Seong-hun, the film portrays the desperate struggle of a car salesman who accidentally gets trapped inside a collapsed tunnel on his way home from work. His wife and the rescue team captain make every effort to save him but are confronted with politicians and people who do not want a development plan to be delayed to rescue a single person who may have already died.

The James Wan-produced American horror film “Lights Out” landed at No. 2 on its opening weekend with 397,460 audiences.

“The Last Princess,” a Korean film about the ill-fated life of Korea’s last princess, fell a step down to third place, drawing 230,313 viewers.

Coming in the fourth was another Hollywood newcomer “Ghostbusters” (215,506), followed by “Star Trek Beyond,” the latest film in the rebooted Star Trek franchise (167,878).

The official poster of the Korean film “Tunnel.”