The Assassins held its lead in South Korea's October box office as midweek admissions showed audiences still favoring homegrown crime dramas over fresh Hollywood imports, according to Korea Boxoffice Information System data compiled by the Korean Film Council.
October leaderboard
Through mid-October, The Assassins drew roughly 1.34 million admissions in the calendar month, ahead of the Japanese animated hit Chiikawa the Movie and gambling sequel TAZZA: The Song of Beelzebub. On October 15 alone, Chiikawa topped the daily chart with about 35,400 viewers, but the monthly race still favors The Assassins' broader release footprint.
Domestic action film REAWAKENED MAN added about 264,000 admissions in October, bringing its cumulative total past 316,000 as it entered a second week of play. New U.S. imports Street Fighter and Whalefall opened midweek with single-digit-thousand tallies each, failing to crack the top three.
What distributors read
Exhibitors said the split screen — a gritty local thriller at number one, anime at number one on individual days — shows Korean theaters relying on genre diversity rather than a single franchise. With the Chuseok hangover fading, October totals will depend on whether REAWAKENED MAN can hold screens against Chiikawa's family audience and Assassins' word of mouth.
Screen counts and scheduling
The Assassins still plays on nearly a thousand screens, a sign distributors expect legs through late October. Chiikawa benefits from morning and afternoon family slots, while Assassins draws evening crowds.
TAZZA remains a strong third thanks to gambling drama fans, showing that mid-budget Korean IP can coexist with anime imports without either genre being squeezed out.
Import performance
Hollywood titles Odyssey and Street Fighter split audiences looking for spectacle; neither approached Assassins' monthly total. Exhibitors said marketing spend on imports was cautious after summer overload, leaving room for local mid-tier films like REAWAKENED MAN to hold screens longer.