Two Hollywood Blockbusters Neck-and-Neck in Race to 10 Million Moviegoers as Summer Box Office Revives

Two major Hollywood blockbusters are maintaining a strong box office run side by side.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day surpassed 8.05 million cumulative moviegoers today (the 23rd).

This comes 26 days after its release.

It marks the highest record in South Korea for Tom Holland's Spider-Man series, surpassing both Far From Home and No Way Home.

The momentum of the film chasing close behind is equally formidable.

Director Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey surpassed 7 million viewers on the same day.

Achieved in 19 days since its release, it matches the pace of Spider-Man, which holds the record for the fastest release of the year.

Even in its fourth week of screening, it maintains an overwhelming first place with an advance ticket sales rate of 71.5%.

At this pace, both films are strongly favored to reach 10 million moviegoers.

The King's Warden has already surpassed 10 million viewers this year, and these two films are set to join the ranks.

The last year to feature three or more films drawing 10 million moviegoers annually was 2019, before the spread of COVID-19.

The Odyssey, filmed entirely with IMAX film cameras, is seeing extraordinary demand for large screens.

Roughly 1 in 10 moviegoers, or 630,000 people, watched the film in IMAX.

This is the highest among this year's releases.

CGV Yongsan, equipped with the country's largest screen and commonly known as Yong-AMAX, remains notoriously difficult to secure seats for.

However, this fever pitch might not last long.

This is due to the mandatory Korean film screening quota.

Cinemas are required to screen Korean films for one-fifth of their annual screening days, amounting to a minimum of 73 days.

Specialized theaters drawing massive crowds are no exception.

As of the 21st, Yong-AMAX has fulfilled 35 days of Korean film screenings.

Factoring in the remaining 38 mandatory days, alongside the year-end releases of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday,

viewers will have at most a little over two months left to watch The Odyssey at Yong-AMAX.

Audiences are lined up waiting for tickets, yet theaters find themselves unable to screen the film even if they want to.

As a rare warm breeze blows through the box office, the question remains whether this heat can be sustained.

(Reported by Yeo Hyeon-gyo | Video editing by Na Hong-hee | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.