With ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘The Odyssey’ packing theaters, Korean cinema is counting on a crowded autumn slate to keep a strong year going
Korea’s box office is in the middle of its hottest stretch in years, and Hollywood blockbusters are running the show at the moment.
Two major imports are filling seats through the dog days of summer, setting the stage for a bigger question: whether the momentum holds once the spotlight shifts back to homegrown films this fall.
Christopher Nolan’s Homeric epic “The Odyssey,” one of the most anticipated releases of 2026, opened Wednesday and shot straight to No. 1, passing 540,000 admissions in its first two days. Right behind it is “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which has been on a tear since posting the year’s biggest opening day last week and is expected to swing past 5 million admissions this weekend.
The two films have also locked up the top of the presale chart, together accounting for more than 8 of every 10 tickets booked as of Friday morning.
Squeezed out of the picture is “Hope,” Na Hong-jin’s alien-invasion spectacle, which has been losing steam since leading the chart for two weeks in July. The $33 million (46.7 billion won) production — reportedly the costliest in Korean film history — has slipped to fourth place in daily ticket sales, and with 4.3 million admissions as of Thursday, its final tally looks set to fall short of what a film of its size needs to turn a profit.
Still, it’s been a good year for Korean cinema so far, and the second half offers more reasons to be optimistic.
The first six months were the industry’s best since the pandemic, powered by the record-smashing run of “The King’s Warden,” the period drama that went on to become the highest-grossing Korean film of all time. Other releases, including Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller “Colony” and the low-budget horror flick “Salmokji: Whispering Water,” also did brisk business.
Ticket sales, which Korea uses to track its box office instead of revenue, stood at 71.7 million for the year as of Thursday, already nearly 70 percent of last year’s full-year total.
Now it’s on local films to keep that momentum going. No Korean release on the horizon has the tentpole aura of “Hope” or “Colony,” but the fall slate is the fullest the industry has fielded in years, a welcome change after lean stretches with little in the pipeline.
The lineup kicks into gear in September, built around the Chuseok holiday, which falls Sept. 24-26 this year and ranks among the busiest moviegoing stretches on the calendar.
First up is “The Intern,” opening Sept. 16. The remake of Nancy Meyers’ 2015 comedy stars “Oldboy” veteran Choi Min-sik in the Robert De Niro role, while Han So-hee steps into the part of the hard-charging young CEO played by Anne Hathaway.
Behind the camera is Kim Do-young, whose romance “Once We Were Us” became one of the year’s unlikeliest homegrown hits when it overtook “Avatar: Fire and Ash” atop the daily chart over the New Year holiday.
A week later comes “Possible Love,” the first feature in eight years from arthouse auteur Lee Chang-dong (“Oasis,” “Burning”). A Netflix original, the film was widely expected to skip theaters, but the streamer announced last month that it will get a theatrical run starting Sept. 23, following its world premiere in competition at Venice.
The cast is A-list through and through: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong star as two married couples whose paths cross during a documentary shoot.
September also brings “The Assassin(s),” veteran filmmaker Hur Jin-ho’s political thriller about the 1974 shooting that killed South Korea’s first lady, starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho. An exact date has yet to be set.
It’s a weightier subject than the rest of the September lineup, but movies tackling the country’s turbulent political past have found big audiences before — “12.12: The Day,” released in late 2023, sold more than 13 million tickets. “The Assassin(s)” will hold its world premiere as a gala title in Toronto before heading home.
Rounding out the month are “Reawakened Man,” a webtoon adaptation starring indie darling turned leading man Koo Kyo-hwan as a man who returns from the dead, and “Tazza: Song of Belzebub,” the final chapter of the long-running gambling saga, with Byun Yo-han and Noh Jae-won squaring off in a high-stakes game.
Hollywood returns in force later in the year, with “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday” both landing in December. But Korean studios still have cards to play, including a pair of star-led titles awaiting release dates.
Joseon-era period piece “Canvas of Blood” pairs Kim Nam-gil with K-drama heartthrob Park Bo-gum as rival princes. Thailand-set noir thriller “Tropical Night” teams Jang Dong-gun with Woo Do-hwan and K-pop star-turned-actor Hyeri, cast against type as a former idol working in Bangkok’s nightlife district.
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