Twin summer hits eye a milestone no pair of foreign films has ever reached together
Korea has a unique way of keeping track of the box office. Whereas most countries measure a film’s success in dollars grossed, Koreans count the number of tickets sold, because every theater is required to report daily sales to the state-run Korean Film Council.
The ultimate milestone in that system is 10 million tickets. In a country of 51 million, it has long been considered the benchmark of a true megahit, the equivalent of a $1 billion worldwide gross in Hollywood. Only 34 films have crossed that bar so far: 25 of them Korean, nine foreign.
This summer, two films might have a shot at getting there at the same time.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey,” released a week apart in late July and early August, have brought the biggest crowds to local theaters in years. As both rack up big numbers worldwide, talk here has turned to whether either, or both, can join the 10 million club.
“Brand New Day,” which opened July 29, stood at 7.74 million admissions through Thursday. The Marvel sequel starring Tom Holland is set to become the most-watched entry in the franchise’s history here. It has already sailed past “No Way Home” (7.55 million in 2021) and is expected to overtake “Far From Home” (8.02 million in 2019) over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s Homeric epic has become the hottest ticket in the country since its Aug. 5 opening, drawing 5.79 million admissions through Thursday, according to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracker. It has topped the daily chart every single day since its release, adding nearly 2 million over last week’s long weekend alone.
Should both clear 10 million, it would be the first time since 2015 that two films released back to back have done so. It would also be a first for Hollywood imports.
“Silmido” and “Taegukgi” (11.74 million), a pair of Korean military action films that opened weeks apart, were the first to pull off the feat in 2003-04. The last pair to get there was “Assassination” (12.7 million) and “Veteran” (13.4 million), a one-two punch not unlike America’s “Barbenheimer” summer of 2023.
For an industry that has spent years waiting for its audience to return, the timing could hardly be better. Korean theaters have been slower to bounce back from the pandemic-era slump than almost any other major market. A double milestone would be the clearest sign yet that the tables have turned.
So how close are they? Nobody can tell for sure, but “The Odyssey” seems the likelier of the two to make it.
Nolan’s film is holding up remarkably well in its third week, drawing 190,000 to 230,000 viewers a day even after the holiday rush.
Presales point to a stronger road ahead. As of Friday morning, the film accounted for 73 percent of all advance bookings nationwide, with some 755,000 tickets already sold.
Presales normally peak on day one and taper from there. “The Odyssey” went the other way, climbing from about 520,000 tickets on opening day to more than 1 million at one point in its second week. That was the highest count for any release this year.
Much of that demand is due to the film’s format. “The Odyssey” was shot entirely on Imax cameras, and the only theater in Korea that is capable of showing its full 1.43:1 frame without cropping is CGV’s flagship multiplex in Yongsan, Seoul.
Every showtime there has sold out weeks in advance, and resale tickets have been going for several times their face value. The country’s 26 other Imax screens are packing seats as well, with prime weekend slots long gone.
With demand for the premium formats far outstripping supply, and no major release on the calendar until mid-September, “The Odyssey’s” run could stretch deep into next month.
“Brand New Day,” meanwhile, is visibly losing steam. Now in its fourth week, the film drew 55,000 admissions Thursday, down from more than 300,000 a day over the holiday weekend. Its screen count has slipped to around 1,000 from over 1,300 a week ago, as the best showtimes go to “The Odyssey.”
The sequel needs another 2.3 million tickets to reach the milestone. Even at 50,000 a day, roughly its current weekday pace, that would take more than six weeks.
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