Chiikawa Keeps Its South Korean Crown as Final Interview Opens Second
Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island stayed on top of the South Korean box office for a fourth straight weekend, even as the mystery film Final Interview made a strong debut behind it.
According to KOBIS, the tracking service run by the Korean Film Council, the anime took $1.1 million in US dollars from 149,050 admissions across 977 screens between November 6 and 8, 2026. That gave it 23.5 percent of the weekend's theatre takings, according to Variety.
Final Interview, directed by Kim Jung-hoon and adapted from Akinari Asakura's novel, opened in second place. It took $787,344 from 104,476 admissions across 957 screens, a 16.7 percent share. Since launching on November 4, it has grossed $1.2 million from 166,796 admissions.
The Chiikawa film has been in cinemas much longer. It opened in South Korea on September 30 and has now taken $21 million from 2,788,843 admissions. It was directed by Kei Oikawa and is based on the manga by Nagano, the creator of the characters. In Japan, the film had earned 18.66 billion yen, about $118.2 million, from 12.77 million admissions after 101 days, according to Crunchyroll.
Further down the chart, Heart of the Beast came third with $667,817 from 90,679 admissions across 851 screens. Since its October 28 debut, it has reached $2.7 million and 379,763 viewers in South Korea.
Detective Conan: The Counterfeit Case of Ultra 30 debuted in fourth place with $592,765 from 79,999 admissions across 409 screens. It has taken $803,051 since opening on November 5. The Cat in the Hat rounded out the top five with $200,431 from 29,259 admissions across 608 screens.
The weekend shows how fast the chart can turn over. A new title opened within a few points of a film that has been playing for more than five weeks, and both sit well above the rest of the field. The next weekend will show whether Final Interview can close the gap on Chiikawa, which has held the top spot for four weekends in a row.
