The Odyssey stays No. 1 in South Korea: tops Spider-Man again

KOBIS, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service, shows Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” holding onto No. 1 in South Korea over Aug. 14-16. It brought in $13.2 million from 1,691,744 admissions, played on 2,114 screens, and claimed 59.07% of the weekend market.

The bigger story is what happened in weekend two. Instead of the usual drop, “The Odyssey” actually climbed. KOBIS projected the frame at roughly $17 million, a 17.14% increase on its debut. By Sunday, Aug. 16, KOBIS had the film at $35.24 million and 4.54 million admissions after 12 days. Then it passed 5 million admissions on the morning of Aug. 17, with advance ticket sales still making up about 69% of all bookings.

For people who follow the Korean box office closely, that run stands out. KOBIS shows “The Odyssey” finishing ahead of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” for a second straight weekend after moving past it the previous frame. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” was still sitting on a bigger total, $53.5 million, but Nolan’s film is the one with the stronger momentum right now. That’s why people are starting to talk about it as a post-pandemic breakout, with some even bringing up “Interstellar” and its path to 10 million admissions.

KOBIS is also where you can keep up with the latest numbers as South Korea’s 2026 theatrical rebound keeps building. First-half revenue reached $399 million, up 41.9%. Admissions hit 57 million. Korean films saw revenue rise 81.7%. And “The King’s Warden” climbed to 16.9 million admissions, again according to KOBIS.