"Assassins" stayed in first place at the South Korean box office on Oct. 7, drawing 53,891 viewers for the day, according to data from the Korean Film Council's integrated ticketing network cited by 뉴스핌. The film has accumulated 2,520,865 admissions since its Sept. 23 release.
The theatrical edition of "Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island" rose to second place in the daily rankings with 49,227 viewers. Since opening Sept. 30, it has sold 818,352 tickets in total.
"Taja: The Song of Beelzebub" slipped one spot to third, attracting 28,857 moviegoers on Oct. 7 for a cumulative 1,520,782 admissions.
Why it matters
The numbers arrive as "Assassins" remains at the center of a public dispute over historical distortion. The controversy has already cost the film its side events at the Busan International Film Festival and stage greetings at theaters, cancellations that 뉴스핌 reported. That a film facing this level of external pressure still holds the top daily spot — and sits second in advance bookings — makes its commercial performance a test case for how controversy and audience demand interact in the Korean market.
The film is also approaching a symbolic threshold. As 뉴스핌 noted, attention is on whether it will pass the 3 million admissions mark this weekend.
What the film is, and what it is not
"Assassins" stars Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho, and was directed by Hur Jin-ho. According to 뉴스핌, it is a work of fiction that takes as its motif the real-life 1974 shooting of the president's wife, and proposes alternative possibilities about the truth and mysteries of that day. Park Hoon, Yoo Seong-ju, Park Ji-hwan, Ryu Hye-young and Kim Dae-myung appear in supporting roles.
The distinction between the film's fictional premise and the historical record sits at the heart of the criticism it has drawn. The dispute has extended beyond the film itself: 주간조선 reported on disagreements over how the Korean wiki site Namuwiki handles the "Assassins" entry compared with its treatment of "The Founding War," while 한겨레 published a column framing the fight as one over whether art is a space for politics. Filmmakers including Chung Ji-young and Lee Myung-se issued a joint statement on the controversy, KBS News reported. 경기일보 carried comments from broadcaster 주진우 questioning whether cast members' failure to apologize was tied to incentive payments worth hundreds of millions of won.
Those threads — the wiki editing dispute, the column, the filmmakers' statement and the incentive claim — are separate reports from separate outlets. What they share is a widening argument about the film that has run alongside, rather than instead of, its ticket sales.
Advance bookings tell a different story
"Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island" leads advance bookings for a second week, holding a 28.6 percent reservation rate with 108,222 tickets pre-sold, per 뉴스핌. The gap between its booking strength and its daily attendance — second on Oct. 7, first in reservations — suggests the animated title is drawing audiences in a pattern distinct from the live-action leader.
"Assassins" sits second in advance bookings at 16.7 percent, with 58,827 tickets reserved. "Odyssey," which opened Aug. 5 and has already passed 12 million admissions, remains in the upper reaches of the chart with a 12.3 percent booking rate and 43,167 tickets pre-sold.
The three titles occupy different positions in the market. "Assassins" is a recent wide release still converting walk-up demand into daily admissions. "Chiikawa" is building momentum through pre-sales. "Odyssey" is a long-running hit whose continued presence in the booking top three reflects sustained interest well past its opening window.
The numbers behind the rankings
The daily figures from the Film Council network place "Assassins" roughly 4,600 admissions ahead of "Chiikawa" for Oct. 7. That margin is narrow enough that a shift in the daily order is plausible over a weekend, particularly given "Chiikawa's" booking advantage.
Cumulative totals show a wider spread. "Assassins" has reached 2.52 million admissions in about two weeks of release. "Taja: The Song of Beelzebub" stands at 1.52 million. "Chiikawa" has crossed 818,000 since Sept. 30. "Odyssey," at more than 12 million, operates in a different tier entirely.
뉴스핌's box office roundup was compiled with the outlet's AI-assisted ranking tools, which it notes may not be fully accurate. The underlying attendance and reservation figures come from the Film Council's integrated network.
The coming weekend will show whether "Assassins" can convert its 58,827 advance bookings into enough admissions to cross 3 million, and whether "Chiikawa" can turn its reservation lead into the top daily spot.
