Heo Jin-ho's romantic drama April Snowearned$2,8m on its opening weekend in Japan on 413 screens -- a new record for aKorean film in the Japanese market.

Distributor UIP predicts a total take between $22.5m(Y2.5bn) and $27.0m, which would makeApril Snow the highest grossing Korean film ever released in Japan.

April Snow star Bae Yong Jun, who is known simplyas "Yong-sama" (which roughly translates as"PrinceYong") by his millions of adoring Japanese female fans,is the main reason for the film's success. UIP sold 1.5 million advance ticketsfor the film, with his fan base snapping up most of them.

April Snow's moment at the top may be brief,however. One is A Moment to Remember, John H. Lee's hit romantic dramawill be released on October 22and distributor Gaga is predicting a grossof $28m. It is more likely, however, that Bae's star power will prevail.

The current record holder is Jae-Young Kwak's Windstruck,a romantic drama that reunited the stars of Kwak's 2001 smash comedy MySassy Girl and grossed $18 million in Japan this spring.