Paradise Lost had its biggest day. The half million is still far off.

Saturday was the best day so far for Yeon Sang-ho's Paradise Lost. It finished third.

October 24 brought 27,874 people. Through Saturday the total was 82,525.

The biggest crowd that day was at Chiikawa the Movie, the Japanese character film families have been choosing since September 30. It sold 145,070 tickets.

Just ahead of Paradise Lost was Hur Jin-ho's The Assassin(s), open since September 23 and already past 3.3 million, with 28,668 tickets.

Paradise Lost still had a wide release going, 786 screens and 2,669 showtimes. About 10 people a show. That is a lot of showtimes for not many people.

The budget was handled before opening day. CJ ENM, the distributor, sold the film into 118 countries, and the overseas money covered a production budget of about 500 million won.

Yeon has said the break-even hardly matters. He would be glad if 500,000 people came.

He is thinking about The Ugly, the small film he released last September. He and the crew had said they would throw a party if 500,000 people showed up. The first Saturday drew about 120,000, the film finished around 1.08 million, and they had the party.

He said everyone had a great time.

He also says the settlement on that film was uneven. Some people were owed more than they received, and he paid bonuses later. On Paradise Lost he tried to set the contracts up more carefully.

The rest of this week was smaller. Wednesday was about 20,600 people, Thursday about 14,200, Friday 16,473. Saturday rose, and the theaters were still easy to walk into.

People who went keep talking about Kim Hyun-joo. She plays Ryu So-young, a mother getting by with an AI version of the son she lost. Bae Hyun-sung plays the grown son who comes back.

People are with her. They are less sure the story holds together.

Last week's presale note was about advance tickets, and about Toronto and Busan selling out. Those screenings were full. Saturday has not caught up.

If you are on this side of the Pacific, Hawaii gets there first. The Hawaii International Film Festival screens it November 1 and 4, in the Spotlight on Korea section. Well Go USA's limited North American run follows on November 6, in Korean with English subtitles. Look up a theater before you set the night aside.

Our take: go for Kim Hyun-joo, and for Yeon making another small film because he likes working this way. Saturday in Korea went to a character movie, and to a hit that has been out for a month. If a theater near you has the November 6 show, that is the listing to check.