Opening on Wednesday (Feb. 12), comedy “Honest Candidate” topped the South Korean box office, ahead of “Little Women” and Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” which returned to the charts eight months after its original release.

“Candidate” earned $6.52 million from 909,000 admissions over five days. Directed by Chang You-jeong (“Finding Mr. Destiny”), “Candidate” is the story of a third term congresswoman who, with the elections imminent, suddenly loses her ability to lie. Showing on 1,179 screens nationwide, the local comedy was released by Next Entertainment World, and accounted for 44% of total weekend box office.

Debuting in second, Sony’s “Little Women” earned $3.33 million from 464,000 admissions between Wednesday and Sunday. The Greta Gerwig film accounted for 20% of the weekend box office.

“The Closet” slipped to third place from the previous weekend’s top spot. The CJ Entertainment release earned $1.58 million for a total of $8.39 million after two weekends on release.

Buoyed by its four Oscar wins, Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” jumped to fourth place. The family drama, which had previously earned some $73 million from its May release, added $510,000 between Friday and Sunday. CJ plans to release a black and white version on Feb. 26.

Locally distributed by Lotte Cultureworks, Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened on Wednesday and landed in fifth. The animated feature earned $586,000 over its opening five days. Showbox’s recent history drama “The Man Standing Next” tumbled down the chart, but earned $491,000 between Friday and Sunday, lifting its cumulative total to $34.63 million since its Jan. 22 release.