No Other Choice: Park Chan-Wook, Lee Byung-Hun Film Stays Atop Korean Box Office For Eight Days After Release

After

winning acclaim and awards at international film festivals, No Other Choice released in South Korea on 24 September. Filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s comedy thriller open in first place at the box office where it has remained for eight straight days, becoming the Korea’s second-biggest local opening of 2025. No Other Choice stars Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon and Lee Sung-min.

No Other Choice takes over South Korean box office

After conquering South Korea, No Other Choice is slowly opening across other Asian countries. According to the Korean Film Council's integrated computer network on October 2, the dark satire had 75,264 viewers on October 1, staying at number one spot with a cumulative audience of 1,309,491.It debuted with $4.6 million at Korea's box office on the weekend, coming in second to Pil Gam-sung’s comedy-horror My Daughter Is a Zombie, which debuted with $8.3 million in July. No Other Choice had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September and received excellent reviews from critics. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is still 100 per cent. ALSO READ: No Other Choice: Hyun Bin's Affection For Wife Son Ye-Jin On FULL Display At After-Party; VIRAL Video Blows Up Internet

More about No Other Choice

Park Chan-wook's film is based on the US novel The Ax by Donald Westlake, which was earlier made into the 2005 French film The Axe by Costa-Gavras. Lee Byung-hun plays veteran paper mill manager You Man-su, a family man who is laid off and unable to find a new job. After being rejected at several interviews, he decides to fight back by eliminating the competition, literally. No Other Choice has been selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards and will premiere next at the New York Film Festival next week. It is scheduled to be released in North America later this year.