'Assassin(s)' sweeps Chuseok box office, surpasses 1 million admissions in four days

"Assassin(s)," starring Park Hae-il, Yoo Hae-jin and Lee Min-ho, has surpassed 1 million cumulative admissions just four days after its opening.

Distributor Hive Media Corp said Saturday morning that the film had crossed 1.05 million admissions.

"Assassin(s)" is a mystery thriller that begins with the question of whether the full story behind the 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo may differ from the accepted account.

Park Hae-il returns to the screen for the first time in four years as Jae-hwan, a senior editor at a society desk, while Yoo Hae-jin plays a police officer named Cheol-gu and Lee Min-ho takes the role of Young-il, a society reporter and Jae-hwan's junior colleague.

The film is the latest work from director Heo Jin-ho, known for sensitively capturing emotion and era in films including "Christmas in August" (1998), "One Fine Spring Day" (2001), "The Last Princess" (2016) and "Forbidden Dream" (2019).

"Assassin(s)" opened Wednesday and topped the domestic box office for three consecutive days through Friday.

At a production press conference held last month, Park Hae-il said the film "is not just for those who remember the historical event — it also introduces younger audiences who may not know it to a key moment in modern Korean history." He added that "the pacing is very fast and there is real drama among the characters, so it is a film that people of all ages can enjoy."