'Avatar' sequel tops Korean box office on first weekend

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the box office with an overwhelming first weekend performance. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which was released in theaters on Dec. 14, took the top spot in the Korean box office, selling...

A promotional poster for ″Avatar: The Way of Water″ is up at a theater in downtown Seoul on Sunday. [NEWS1]

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the box office with an overwhelming first weekend performance.

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” which was released in theaters on Dec. 14, took the top spot in the Korean box office, selling 2.03 million tickets over the three days from Dec. 16 to 18, according to data compiled by the Korean Film Council.

On Monday, the fifth day of its release, the cumulative number of viewers recorded 2.68 million. The first “Avatar” film was released in 2009 and attracted 1.87 million viewers in the first five days of its release.

The total number of moviegoers over the weekend doubled compared to the last.

The total number of moviegoers last weekend was 2.51 million, an increase of about 183 percent from the 887,000 in the previous weekend.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]