Kang Dong Won's Mystery Thriller Wins At The Box Office

Kang Dong Won's film "The Priests" came in first place in the Korean box office this past weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film recorded the biggest debut score of the month in South Korea, during the weekend of November 6 to 9. The film earned a total of $11.3 million, said the Korean Film Council.

The first week of November is traditionally a difficult week for films in South Korea, so the film managed to succeed against some odds.

More than a million people attended in the first three days, according to the Korean media outlet Korea Times. Previously Joo Won's film "Fatal Intuition" was in first place, but it fell behind "The Priests" within three days.

"Fatal Intuition," which also star Yoo Hae Jin, is a thriller about a man looking for his sister's killer. That film earned $6.5 million over the weekend.Yoo Hae-jin, the thriller is about a young man's struggles to discover the truth about his sister's death. The film's cumulative gross comes down to $6.5 million.

"The Priests" stars Kang Dong Won as Deacon Choi and Kim Yun Seok as Father Kim. A young girl in Father Kim's parish falls into a coma after being hit by a car. The priest and the young deacon decide that she is possessed and perform an exorcism to release the demon's hold on her. That's where things begin to go very wrong.

Jang Jae Hyun wrote and directed the film. He based the story on his award-winning short film "12th Assistant Deacon."

It may have been more than the stars or the story that brought in the audiences. The film was released for ScreenX theaters, which use a three-screen cinema technology, developed by CJ. It is the first time a mainstream film has been released in this  13-screen format. There are 44 ScreenX theaters in Korea.

The film also stars Park So Dam. Kim Eui Sung, Son Jong Hak and Lee Ho Jae.