Director Park Chan-wook’s latest film, ‘I Can’t Help It,’ is quietly captivating audiences in the United States, despite not winning at the recent Critics’ Choice Awards. The film, a darkly comedic thriller, is proving that word-of-mouth and strong reviews can overcome a limited initial release.
According to box office performance statistics from Box Office Mojo, ‘I Can’t Help It’ expanded from an initial release in 13 U.S. theaters on December 25th to 45 theaters as of January 2nd.
Steady Climb at the Box Office
The film quickly rose to the 12th spot in the North American box office the day after its release and maintained that ranking through January 4th. Over its first 10 days, ‘I Can’t Help It’ generated approximately $1.98 million in ticket sales, equivalent to roughly 2.9 billion Korean Won.
What makes ‘I Can’t Help It’ stand out? Despite a smaller theatrical footprint, the film is outperforming larger releases on a per-theater basis, suggesting strong audience engagement.
In comparison, ‘Song Sung Blue,’ a low-budget film featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson released in 2,587 theaters during the same period, earned $24.94 million over 10 days. However, ‘I Can’t Help It’ boasts significantly higher ticket sales per theater.
Notably, while ‘Song Sung Blue’ experienced a 24% decrease in ticket sales on its second Sunday, ‘I Can’t Help It’ saw a remarkable 97.7% increase during the same timeframe.
Positive Audience Response
Early reactions from audiences have been overwhelmingly positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 93% audience rating.
“Really well made! Great story. A classic!” commented a user with the ID ‘Michael B.’ Another user, ‘Johnny G,’ praised the film as “A great movie from start to finish. Director Park Chan-wook’s best work.”
‘I Can’t Help It’ received nominations in three categories at the Golden Globe Awards, scheduled for January 11th: Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Actor for Lee Byung-hun. The film is also a contender for the International Feature Film Award at the Academy Awards, with final nominations to be announced on January 22nd, ahead of the March awards ceremony. Despite this recognition, the film did not win in the Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Foreign Language Film categories at the Critics’ Choice Awards held the previous day.
