‘Chainsaw Man’ tops Korea box office as ‘Tron: Ares’ opens in sixth place | News

Japanese animation Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc has climbed to the top of the South Korean box office while US tentpole Tron: Ares struggled on its opening weekend.

The first feature to be based on the popular Chainsaw Man manga series follows a teenager named Denji who can transform into a devil-human hybrid by pulling a chord on his chest. Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, it marks the sequel to an anime TV series.

After opening in South Korea on September 24 in second place, it dropped to third place the following weekend. But it led the box office from October 10-12 with takings of $2.4m from 324,164 admissions, taking its cume to $13.7 from 1.8 million admissions, according to Korean Film Council tracking service Kobis.

Local comedy-action film Boss ranked second with $2m from 307,166 admissions for a cume of $13.7m after two outings. The feature topped the 2 million admissions mark after 10 days on release to become the first October release to hit the landmark figure since the pandemic. Directed by Ra Hee-chan, the film premiered at Busan.

Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice added $1.28m (186,043 admissions) for a cume of $18m (2.6 million admissions) after three weekends while Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another took $592,611 (83,729 admissions) on its second outing for a cume of $2.72m (367,357 admissions).

After nearly two months on release, Japanese animation Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle Arc continued its run by adding $500,000 (71,031 admissions). It has taken $40.9m (5.4 million admissions) in the territory, making it the highest grossing title in South Korea of 2025 to date.

Disney’s Tron: Ares had to settle for sixth place on its opening weekend with $424,547 (52,618 admissions) for a cume of $1.1m (140,017 admissions) since being released on October 8. Previous film Tron: Legacy took $1.8m (230,794 admissions) on its opening weekend from December 31 to January 2, 2011.