Spider-Man: Brand New Day recorded the biggest opening of the year to date in South Korea, delivering a significant blow to Na Hong-jin’s action thriller Hope.
The latest in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man franchise grossed $4.8m on its opening day (July 29) and took $17m across its opening weekend, commanding a massive 80.6% share of box office revenue, according to Korean Film Council (Kofic) tracking service Kobis.
It relegated Plus M Entertainment’s Hope to second place after spending two weeks at the top.
The arrival of the Marvel blockbuster saw a 52% cut in screens for Hope from 2,108 on July 28 to 1,023 on July 29. This resulted in Hope’s box office dropping from 58.5% to 10%.
Hopes had been high for Na’s latest feature, which premiered in Competition at Cannes.
The sci-fi thriller set the previous opening day record for 2026 when it debuted on July 15, earning nearly $2.5m. It was also the fastest film to reach one, two and three million admissions this year – until Spider-Man broke each of these records within its opening weekend – and became the third biggest title at this year’s box office in South Korea after just two weeks.
However, its takings dropped by more than 50% on its second weekend and recorded its lowest performing day on August 4, grossing $408,416 across 919 screens for a revenue share of 12.58%. Newcomer Spider-Man: Brand New Day earned $2.55m from 2,214 screens for a share of 78.5%.
Hope has a cume of $31.9m from 4.23 million admissions as of August 4.
Marvel performance
Spider-Man: Brand New Day took just six days to become the fastest film to hit 4 million admissions in the territory this year – a landmark that took Hope 19 days.
One week into its release, the Marvel Studios feature has earned $30.6m from 4.13 million admissions and will take Hope’s place today as the third biggest film in South Korea this year to date.
The franchise has performed well in Korea over the past decade.
Spider-Man: Homecoming grossed $41.5m from 7.25 million admissions in 2017 followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home, which earned $48.4m from 8.02 million admissions in 2018. In 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home topped the yearly box office with $39.1m from 5.55 million admissions at a time when cinemas were reopening in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to this latest instalment, Marvel titles have underperformed at Korea’s box office.
Last year, Captain America: Brave New World earned $11.49m from 1.65 million admissions while Thunderbolts* made $6.5m from fewer than 1 million admissions. Fantastic Four: First Steps grossed $4.48m from 590,863 admissions.
With the arrival of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, cinemas grossed $20.8m from July 31-August 2, making it the biggest weekend of the year to date.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opens in Korea today (August 5).
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