'Avatar 2' tops box office for 4th consecutive week

SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- "Avatar: The Way of Water" stayed on top of the South Korean box office for the fourth straight week, data showed Monday.

James Cameron's sequel to his 2009 sci-fi blockbuster registered 592,000 admissions from Friday to Sunday, according to the data from the Korean Film Council.

Tickets of "Avatar 2" were selling slower compared with the previous weekend when the movie drew 1.27 million moviegoers.

The Hollywood blockbuster has accumulated 8.78 million viewers and generated 109.6 billion won (US$86.8 million) in sales since its release in South Korea on Dec. 14.

"Hero," a homegrown musical film about Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun, remained at No. 2 with 322,000 admissions over the period. It has amassed 2.22 million viewers since its release on Dec. 21.

The Japanese basketball animation film "The First Slam Dunk" came in third with 309,000 admissions in its opening weekend.