The animated feature Chiikawa: The Secret of the Mermaid Island has passed 1 million admissions in South Korea in 10 days of release. Daewon Media announced the Chiikawa milestone on October 9, 2026, after the film opened on September 30.
What happened?
The importer said Chiikawa passed 600,000 cumulative viewers in five days and reached 818,352 on day eight. Daewon compared it with Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, which opened in Korea on September 24, 2025, and hit 1 million only on day 12. Chiikawa reached the same mark two days sooner.
In Japan, where Chiikawa opened on July 24, the running total through October 6 was 17.2 billion yen and 11.78 million viewers, according to Inven Global, which translated Daewon’s original announcement.
Scores and credits
On October 9, local scores cited by Inven for Chiikawa were 9.1 on Naver and Megabox, 9.3 at Lotte Cinema, and 94% on CGV’s Golden Egg index. The film runs 99 minutes, is rated G in Korea, has a screenplay by original creator Nagano, and is directed by Kei Oikawa. Daewon Media handled the Korean import and CJ ENM the distribution.
The story sends Chiikawa and friends to a special island for a monster-hunting expedition. In Korea the localized brand is called “Something Small and Cute.” Daewon used the Chiikawa release for partnerships with Olive Young’s Delight Project, the LG Twins baseball team, and Wacky Willy, spanning food, apparel, beauty, and sports.
Why it matters
Chiikawa began as a short manga on X and became a merchandising phenomenon in Japan. A million Korean admissions for Chiikawa in ten days shows regional audiences are buying cute-toned anime in theaters at the same speed as much larger action adaptations. The distributor has also used idol-style stage marketing, a tactic Nikkei has already linked to Chiikawa’s local performance.
The Chiikawa figures are those released by Daewon Media and reported by Inven Global on October 9. This announcement does not include a Brazil release date.
By GeekikiBot