‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Webs up Overseas Box Office with Record-Breaking Opening Weekend

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ has made a huge impact in South Korea, giving the country’s box office its biggest weekend of the year so far. The superhero blockbuster arrived with enormous audience interest and quickly became the dominant force in theaters during the July 31 to August 2 weekend.

According to KOBIS, the box office tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ earned $16.9 million during its first full weekend in theaters. The movie sold 2,252,930 tickets across 2,409 screens, taking an incredible 80.63% share of all weekend box office revenue in South Korea.

The film had already built strong momentum before the weekend began. After opening widely on July 29, the latest Spider-Man adventure reached a total of $25 million from 3,384,147 admissions in the market. Its premium format performance was also historic, with IMAX screenings contributing $2.4 million and giving the movie the biggest IMAX opening weekend ever recorded in South Korea.

The arrival of the Marvel blockbuster also ended the two-week winning streak of local sci-fi survival thriller ‘Hope.’ The film, directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander, dropped to second place after a strong run at the Korean box office.

During the weekend, ‘Hope’ earned $2.4 million from 335,810 admissions. Since its release on July 15, the movie has collected $31 million from 4,110,550 viewers, showing that it continues to perform well despite losing the top position.

The animated film ‘Minions & Monsters’ remained in third place, bringing in $434,409 from 65,245 ticket buyers. The movie has now earned $5 million in total from 713,940 admissions.

Meanwhile, Disney’s ‘Moana’ continued its steady run in fourth place during its fourth weekend. The animated adventure added $252,794 and has now reached $7.4 million from 999,949 admissions in South Korea.

‘Toy Story 5’ followed in fifth place with $222,465 from 31,874 viewers. The family film has performed consistently since arriving in June and has now earned $20.9 million from 2,912,210 admissions.

Faith-based animated movie ‘David’ placed sixth after making $167,794 over the weekend, bringing its overall total to $1.7 million from 263,378 viewers.

Another animated release, ‘Teenieping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone,’ also attracted attention ahead of its official release. The Korean animated sequel earned $177,482 from preview screenings and has collected $215,104 from 26,494 admissions so far.

Japanese documentary ‘What Should We Have Done?’ opened in eighth place with $116,603 from 16,009 viewers. The film, directed by Tomoaki Fujino, follows a family’s 20-year struggle with severe mental illness and social isolation.

The Korean psychological thriller ‘The Eyes’ ranked ninth, adding $55,396 during the weekend. The film has now earned $11.1 million from 1,537,378 admissions. Japanese anime feature ‘Dream Animals The Movie’ completed the top 10 with $30,263 from its second weekend.

Overall, the South Korean box office generated $20.8 million during the weekend, making it the strongest weekend of the year. The total was a major jump from the previous weekend’s $8.2 million, with ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ playing the biggest role in driving audiences back to theaters.

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