"Avatar" becomes most-watched foreign film in Korea

Hollywood blockbuster film "Avatar" set a record on South Korea's box office over the weekend, becoming the most-watched foreign film in the country's history.

According to estimates released by Korea Box Office Information System (KOBIS) on Saturday, the James Cameron pic had attracted a total 7,477,546 viewers since its release on December 17 to set the new record.

The previous record was held by Michael Bay's blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", which drew a total of 7.44 million viewers last summer.

As of January 6, "Avatar" has grossed over USD 1.13 billion dollars worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing film since "Titanic", also directed by Cameron in 1997. "Titanic" currently holds the record for the highest-grossing movie of all-time with 1.84 billion dollars.

A handful of Hollywood actors including Sam Worthington (in the lead role), Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver star in the science action film. Worthington plays a paraplegic war veteran who participates in the avatar program and finds himself in another planet Pandora, where he battles the local humanoid race.

Reporter : Park Kun-ouc kun1112@asiae.co.kr
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr