Homegrown actioner "Escape from Mogadishu" topped South Korea's weekend box office in the first week of its release, revitalizing pandemic-hit theaters, data showed Monday.

The film, directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, sold more than 561,000 tickets over the Friday-Sunday period, bringing its combined total to over 788,000 since its release last Wednesday, according to data from the Korean Film Council.

The big-budget tentpole starring popular actors like Kim Yun-seok and Zo In-sung is based on a true story of the life-and-death escape by diplomats in South and North Korean missions in the capital city of Somalia during the civil war in 1991.

DreamWorks Animation's "The Boss Baby: Family Business" fell to No. 2, garnering 138,000 moviegoers.

American adventure flick "Jungle Cruise" came in next, followed by Marvel Studios' "Black Widow" and local horror film "The Cursed: Dead Man's Prey."

The total number of theater visitors over the weekend jumped by over 25 percent from the previous week to 1 million on the back of the strong performance of "Mogadishu."

The weekend box office had suffered about a 20 percent loss of visitors for two consecutive weekends since the government placed the greater Seoul area under the strictest Level 4 social distancing measures on July 12.

Under the Level 4 rules, all movie theaters must close before 10 p.m. (Yonhap)