[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] The film “Assassins” took the early lead during the first part of the Chuseok holiday. However, it was not an overwhelming lead. With audience demand spread across multiple films during the short holiday, “Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island,” backed by family audiences, drew attention by overtaking “Assassins” to claim the top spot in advance ticket sales toward the end of the holiday.

According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network on the 27th, *Assassins* maintained its No. 1 spot at the box office after drawing 432,352 viewers the previous day. With a cumulative total of 1,305,677 viewers, it was the first of the Chuseok holiday releases to surpass the 1 million viewer mark.
Following closely behind, “Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub” drew 214,898 viewers, bringing its cumulative total to 663,140, while “The Odyssey,” now in its eighth week of release, recorded 142,224 viewers, bringing its cumulative total to 11,691,832. “The Intern” also added 78,655 viewers, bringing its cumulative total to 706,267, as the top-ranked films shared the audience relatively evenly. “Possible Love” drew 26,552 viewers, bringing its cumulative total to 91,672.
This year, with the Chuseok holiday being short and films across various genres competing simultaneously, there was no significant concentration of audiences on any single film. While “The Assassin(s)” took a clear lead, films such as “Tazza,” “Odyssey,” and “The Intern” also secured their own audience bases and shared in the holiday boom.
Toward the end of the holiday, family audiences were particularly prominent. As of 8:30 a.m. that day, “The Chii-Kawa Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” topped the list with 142,939 advance ticket sales. “The Assassin(s)” ranked second with 124,830 advance ticket sales, while “The Odyssey” came in third with 97,052.
The fact that “Chiikawa” topped the advance ticket sales rankings even before its release is attributed to the popularity of its characters, combined with a surge in demand from families seeking entertainment as the holiday weekend drew to a close. While live-action films targeting adult audiences dominated the early part of the holiday weekend, the latter half saw children and families flocking to theaters as well, broadening the scope of the box office landscape.