'The Assassins' Surpasses 2 Million Moviegoers Amid Historical Distortion Controversy

The film 'The Assassins', which deals with the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-su, has surpassed 2 million cumulative moviegoers on the 3rd, the 11th day since its release, amid ongoing controversy over historical distortion.

Distributor Hive Media Corp announced that the cumulative audience for 'The Assassins' exceeded 2 million on the afternoon of this day.

With this milestone, 'The Assassins' has become the 9th film released this year to cross the 2 million mark.

The movie is based on the 1974 incident where First Lady Yuk Young-su was struck and killed by a bullet during an assassination attempt on President Park Chung-hee by Zainichi Korean Mun Se-gwang.

Director Hur Jin-ho, who made 'Christmas in August' (1998), depicts the process of tracking the truth behind the incident centered around police officer Chul-goo (played by Yoo Hae-jin), newspaper social affairs head Jae-hwan (Park Hae-il), and rookie reporter Young-il (Lee Min-ho).

Released on September 23, the film drew approximately 1.407 million viewers during the Chuseok holiday period (September 24 – 27) with its tense narrative, beating works like 'Tazza: Beelzebub's Song' and 'Odyssey' to emerge victorious.

However, the film's box office performance has been impacted as political circles and other critics raised complaints that it distorts actual history, pointing to scenes in the movie that suggest the possibility of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency being behind the events.

Following the controversy, 'The Assassins' surrendered the number one spot in the daily box office to 'Tazza: Beelzebub's Song' on September 28.

Entering this month, it has maintained the top spot and steadily gathered audiences.

'The Assassins' has also maintained a high ranking in advance ticket sales.

As of 4:00 PM on this day, its reservation rate stood at 16.9% (approximately 84,000 reserved tickets), ranking second behind the animation 'Chiikawa the Movie: Secret of the Mermaid Island' (25.7%).

The controversy surrounding the film continues to spread.

Comment sections on YouTube advertisements for a fast-food brand and a securities firm featuring actor Yoo Hae-jin as a model were disabled after being flooded with protest comments.

Production company Hive Media Corp has canceled movie-related events, including an outdoor stage greeting at the Busan International Film Festival.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.