The period thriller “The Assassin(s)” topped South Korea’s box office over the Chuseok holiday, drawing more than 1.3 million admissions in its opening days and outpacing the field during the country’s autumn harvest festival. The film, directed by Hur Jin-ho, opened on Sept. 23 and held the No. 1 position for four straight days as the holiday drew families back to cinemas.
“The Assassin(s)” reimagines the events surrounding the 1974 assassination of first lady Yuk Young-soo, following journalists and detectives who risk their careers to piece together what happened. Hur is a veteran Korean filmmaker whose credits include the melodrama “Christmas in August,” and here he turns to a darker chapter of the country’s modern history. The cast is led by Lee Min-ho, Yoo Hae-jin and Park Hae-il, with Park Jeong-min, Jung Woo-sung, Shim Eun-kyung and Oh Jung-se in supporting roles. Hive Media Corp handled the release.
The film reached 1 million admissions within four days of opening and had led advance ticket sales for eight consecutive days beforehand, a sign of strong demand for a homegrown title over the break. Chuseok, a four-day holiday in 2026, ranks among the most competitive windows on the Korean release calendar, and studios time major openings to it.
The gambling drama “Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub,” the fourth entry in the long-running “Tazza” franchise, trailed in second place with 663,140 admissions through Saturday. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” also played in Korean theaters over the holiday, placing third among the weekend’s titles as local films claimed the top of the chart.
Korean films have reasserted themselves at the domestic box office in 2026 after a difficult stretch for the local industry, and the Chuseok results extended that trend. “The Assassin(s)” marked a high-profile return to the big screen for Lee Min-ho, who is widely known abroad for his television work and carries a large following across Asia. Distributors will look to carry the holiday momentum into the fall, when several major Korean titles are due in cinemas. A strong Chuseok is often read as an early indicator of how local releases will perform through the rest of the year.
