Chainsaw Man Reze Arc Tops Korea Box Office for a Second Weekend

Chainsaw Man The Movie Reze Arc topped South Korea's box office for a second straight weekend while posting strong international results and early critical acclaim ahead of its North American release. The anime feature earned about $1.8 million from 246,138 admissions across 911 screens in South Korea for a 31.9 percent market share over the Oct. 17 to 19 weekend, and has grossed roughly $16.6 million in that market since opening Sept. 24, according to KOBIS, the Korean Film Council's tracking service.

The film, produced by studio MAPPA and directed for the screen by Tatsuya Yoshihara with a screenplay by Hiroshi Seko, adapts the Reze arc of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga. It follows protagonist Denji after an encounter with café worker Reze turns a budding relationship into violent conflict. Voice cast members include Reina Ueda, Fairouz Ai, Tomori Kusunoki and Maaya Uchida. Sony and Crunchyroll are handling distribution in South Korea, while TOHO distributed the picture in Japan.

Reze Arc opened wide in other markets as well. It debuted at number three in Korea with Jujutsu Kaisen Hidden Inventory Premature Death and pushed several other titles down the chart; the top 10 films in...