Hur Jin-ho’s historical thriller The Assassin(s) topped the Korean box office over the Chuseok holiday weekend pulling in more than 1.5 million admissions since its release on September 23.
Fresh from its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival, the film has grossed $11.3M (KRW15.3BN) from 1,546,614 admissions over the first five days of release, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The Chuseok holiday officially ran for three days from Thursday, September 24 to Saturday, September 27.
Starring Lee Min-ho (Gangnam 1970), Park Hae-il (Decision To Leave), and Yoo Hai-jin (A Taxi Driver), The Assassin(s) revolves around the attempted assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1974 that resulted in the death of the First Lady. A senior inspector (Yoo), veteran journalist (Park) and rookie reporter (Lee) set out to uncover exactly what happened and who was responsible, despite threats against their careers and their lives.
Coming in second over the holiday week (September 21-27) was Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub, a long-awaited sequel to a popular gambling franchise, which also opened on September 23 and took just over $6M from 813,842 admissions.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey took third place in the weekly chart, adding another $5M to it record-breaking tally from 565,696 admissions. Released on August 5, the film has grossed just over $98M from 11.7 million admissions in the Korean market, making it the biggest import of the year so far.
Warner Bros Korea’s The Intern, a remake of the 2015 hit Hollywood comedy, came in fourth with an additional $2.6M for a cumulative total of $5.5M since its September 16 release. The film stars Choi Min-sik and Han So-hee in the roles played by Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway in the original film.
Looking at figures for the entire week, The Intern was followed by US horror hit Obsession with $1.6M for a cume of $6.7M since its September 2 release. But looking solely at the weekend, Lee Chang-dong’s Venice winner Possible Love debuted in fifth position. Also opening on September 23, the Netflix-backed film, which is Korea’s official submission for Best International Feature at the Oscars, grossed around $1M in its first five days.
Historical drama The King’s Warden continues to hold Korea’s box office crown for the year to date, with revenues of $120M from 16.9 million admissions; followed by The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($69M from 9 million admissions), and two titles that debuted at this year’s Cannes film festival: Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony and Na Hong-jin’s Hope.
