‘The Assassin(s)’ Slips to Second in Close Korean Weekend Box-Office Race
The Korean historical drama drew 407,680 weekend admissions but lost the top spot by just 215 tickets to the Japanese animation ‘Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island.’
The Korean film “The Assassin(s)” fell to second place at the weekend box office despite attracting more than 400,000 moviegoers, as a Japanese animated feature claimed the top position by a margin of only 215 admissions.
“The Assassin(s)” recorded 407,680 admissions from Friday through Sunday, according to weekend data from the Korean Film Council. That lifted its cumulative audience to 2,992,544 as of Sunday, leaving it just short of the 3 million mark.
The narrow winner was “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island,” which brought in 407,895 viewers over the same period. Its total admissions reached 1,281,485. The result ended a two-week run at No. 1 for “The Assassin(s),” which had led the weekend chart since its Sept. 23 release. The Korean film drew 412,004 admissions during the previous weekend.
The drama is built around the 1974 assassination attempt against then-President Park Chung-hee, an attack that killed first lady Yuk Young-soo. It combines the historical event with fictional elements and has faced criticism, particularly from conservative commentators, over alleged inaccuracies in its depiction of the period. The controversy has accompanied strong ticket sales rather than preventing the film from approaching a major attendance milestone.
Several other Korean titles also remained prominent in the rankings. Crime film “Tazza: Song of Beelzebub” placed third with 190,080 weekend admissions. “Reawaken Man: The Red,” adapted from a webtoon, ranked fifth with 49,345.
Hollywood epic “The Odyssey” took fourth place after selling 95,218 tickets during the weekend. Its cumulative audience has passed 12 million, making it the most-watched foreign film in South Korea this year.
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film “Look Back,” released Thursday, entered the chart at No. 6 with 41,423 admissions.
The unusually tight contest at the top showed a split weekend market, with the politically contentious Korean historical drama retaining substantial momentum while a Japanese family-oriented animation edged ahead. For “The Assassin(s),” the immediate benchmark is now 3 million admissions, a threshold it was fewer than 7,500 tickets away from reaching at Sunday’s close.