Key takeaways
- South Korea’s box office reached nearly $800 million from 96.89 million admissions between January and September, the best first three quarters since the pandemic.
- Foreign films made up 71% of third-quarter revenue while local films lost ground, and two titles accounted for 75.7% of the foreign total.
- The Odyssey passed 10 million admissions in 33 days and set an IMAX record in Korea, but the upcoming local release calendar lacks heavy hitters.
South Korean cinemas took nearly $800 million (KRW1.07 trillion) from 96.89 million tickets in the first nine months of 2026, the highest revenue and attendance for the first three quarters of a year since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Korean Film Council’s third-quarter report as relayed by Screen Daily on 29 October. Revenue rose 35.9% and attendance 28.8% from a year earlier.
What stands out is where the money came from. Foreign titles produced 71% of revenue in the July to September quarter, and two of them, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, supplied 75.7% of the foreign total. Local films, by contrast, earned less than in the same quarter a year earlier.
The Nine-Month Numbers
The year-to-date total is a reminder of how late Korea’s recovery came last year. In 2025, the country did not pass KRW1 trillion in revenue and 100 million admissions until December. By the end of September 2026 it had reached 96.89 million admissions, about 3.1 million short of 100 million.
The third quarter alone brought in $316.5 million (KRW423.4 billion) from 39.86 million admissions, up 29% in revenue and 22.2% in attendance on a year earlier. Even so, the most successful post-pandemic year so far remains 2023, at $961 million, a year driven by local titles including 12.12: The Day and The Roundup: No Way Out.
South Korea measures a film’s success mainly in ticket admissions, using daily figures that theatres report to the Korean Film Council, the Korea Herald has noted, and the 10 million mark is the benchmark for a megahit. As of 21 August only 34 films had reached it: 25 Korean and nine foreign.
South Korea Box Office, January to September 2026
Revenue: nearly $800 million (KRW1.07 trillion), up 35.9%. Admissions: 96.89 million, up 28.8%. Third quarter: $316.5 million from 39.86 million tickets, with foreign films at 71% of revenue. The Odyssey: $100.5 million in the quarter and 11.86 million viewers. Best post-pandemic year so far: 2023, at $961 million.
Foreign Films Carry the Quarter
Overseas titles earned $225 million (KRW300.6 billion) from 28.03 million tickets in the quarter, up 56.4% in revenue and 50.4% in attendance. The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day together accounted for 75.7% of that foreign revenue.
Korean films went the other way. They earned $91.7 million (KRW122.7 billion) from 11.93 million admissions, down 9.8% in revenue and 15.2% in attendance. Screen Daily linked the fall to strong overseas performances and a concentration of Korean releases in September, which left August weak: local revenue dropped from $45.2 million to $16 million year on year that month.
The Odyssey was the top film of the quarter with $100.5 million (KRW134.3 billion) from 11.86 million viewers. Spider-Man: Brand New Day ranked second with $69.8 million. Na Hong-jin’s Hope came third overall with $36.7 million and drove Korean performance in July. Among independent releases, the religious animation David led with $2.2 million from 309,992 viewers.
How The Odyssey Broke Records
The Odyssey opened on 5 August and passed 10 million admissions on Sunday 6 September, 33 days later, Screen Daily reported. In Korea, 10 million tickets is the mark of a major hit, comparable to a Hollywood tentpole reaching $1 billion worldwide. It was the tenth non-Korean film to get there and the first since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, and it made Nolan the first non-Korean filmmaker to reach the mark twice, after Interstellar in 2014. The only other 2026 title to pass 10 million is the local drama The King’s Warden, with 16.9 million.
Large-format screens were central. By 5 September The Odyssey had sold more than 1.1 million IMAX tickets, about 11.3% of its audience, beating the 929,000 record held by Avatar: The Way of Water. Its $21.7 million from IMAX in the third quarter is the highest for any IMAX release in Korea, and 21.6% of the film’s revenue.
The film was shot entirely on IMAX cameras, according to the Korea Herald, and the CGV Yongsan flagship in Seoul is the only Korean theatre able to show its full 1.43:1 frame uncropped. The newspaper reported that showtimes there sold out weeks ahead and resale tickets changed hands for several times face value. The Korea Times reported IMAX tickets with a face value of around 20,000 won being resold for nearly 120,000 won.
Screen Daily put the film’s worldwide gross at $1.64 billion in early September, making it the first Hollywood film that is neither a sequel nor a remake to pass $1 billion internationally since Avatar in 2009.
Local films, by contrast, earned less than in the same quarter a year earlier.
Spider-Man and the Twin Summer Hits
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened on 29 July, a week before The Odyssey. The Korea Herald reported that by 20 August it had passed the 7.55 million admissions of Spider-Man: No Way Home from 2021 and was expected to overtake Spider-Man: Far From Home’s 8.02 million from 2019. By the weekend of 4 to 6 September its total stood at 8.79 million admissions, making it the third-biggest film of 2026 in Korea, according to Screen Daily.
The Korea Herald noted in August that if both films reached 10 million, it would be the first time since 2015 that two back-to-back releases had done so, and the first time for Hollywood imports. Only The Odyssey made it.
The Korea Times said The Odyssey had topped the daily chart every day since its debut and reached 8 million admissions in 24 days, two days faster than Spider-Man.
What Comes Next
Screen Daily notes that the upcoming release calendar lacks local heavy hitters, although a few notable titles that premiered at Busan are scheduled for release.
The main expected boost is from Hollywood again: Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for 16 December, looks set to give the market a final boost before the year ends. Even so, 2023’s $961 million remains the post-pandemic high so far.
Sources
- Korean box office scores post-pandemic record driven by ‘The Odyssey’, ‘Spider-Man’, Screen Daily
- ‘The Odyssey’ crosses 10 million admissions in South Korea, breaks IMAX records, Screen Daily
- Twin summer hits eye a milestone no pair of foreign films has ever reached together, The Korea Herald
- ‘The Odyssey’ overtakes ‘Spider-Man’ as Korea’s top overseas movie of 2026, The Korea Times
