South Korean cinemas sold 96.89 million tickets between January and September, 28.8% more than in the same months of 2025 and the highest nine-month total since the pandemic, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) says. Revenue rose 35.9% to ₩1.0007tn ($738m). In 2025 the market did not pass ₩1tn and 100 million admissions until December. Dollar figures use the ECB reference rates for 30 September 2026.
Key facts
- January to September 2026: 96.89 million admissions (up 28.8%), revenue ₩1.0007tn ($738m), up 35.9%
- July to September: 39.96 million admissions (up 22.2%), ₩423.4bn ($312m), up 29.0%
- Foreign films took 71.0% of third-quarter revenue; Korean films’ revenue fell 9.8%
- The Odyssey: 11.86 million admissions in the quarter, the year’s second film past 10 million
- Figures from KOFIC’s third-quarter industry report, published on 29 October
Two imports drive the quarter
KOFIC’s third-quarter report puts July to September admissions at 39.96 million, up 7.25 million on the year before. The growth came from imported films. Foreign titles sold 28.03 million tickets, up 50.4%, and took ₩300.6bn, up 56.4%.
Two releases did most of that work. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey drew 11.86 million admissions and ₩134.3bn in the quarter, making it the second film of 2026 to pass 10 million in Korea after The King’s Warden. Special formats were a large part of its run: IMAX screens brought in ₩29bn, 21.6% of the film’s revenue, and special formats such as IMAX, 4DX and Dolby Cinema together 29.1% (₩39.1bn). Spider-Man: Brand New Day came second for the quarter with 9.04 million admissions and ₩93.4bn. Between them the two films took ₩227.7bn, or 75.7% of all foreign-film revenue in the period.
Korean films down, but half the top 10
Korean films sold 11.93 million tickets in the quarter, down 15.2%, and took ₩122.7bn, down 9.8%. KOFIC still counts five Korean titles in the quarter’s top 10. Na Hong-jin’s Hope, which opened in July after its premiere in competition at Cannes, was third with 4.59 million admissions and ₩49.1bn.
KOFIC says local films grew in July, on the back of Hope, and in September, on releases timed for the Chuseok holiday; those included The Assassin(s) and Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub, both released on 23 September. August was the weak month: with foreign titles dominant and the bigger Korean releases scheduled for Chuseok, local admissions fell sharply. By the last week of September, local films had retaken the top two places on the weekly chart; in October the Japanese anime Chiikawa has led the weekend.
Among independent and arthouse releases, the faith-based animation David topped the quarter with 309,992 admissions and about ₩3bn.
For the year so far, KOBIS data on KOFIC’s KOBIZ site show The King’s Warden as the biggest film, with 16.93 million admissions, ahead of The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Earlier reports are on our KOFIC tag page and our pages on South Korea.
Our reading
Korea is on course to pass 100 million admissions in October, two months earlier than in 2025, which matters for exhibitors still rebuilding after the pandemic years. The weakness is the mix. Two Hollywood titles produced more than half of the quarter’s revenue, and Korean films lost ground in the same three months that the market’s revenue grew by 29%.
August is the warning. With the bigger Korean films held for Chuseok, local titles had little to put against The Odyssey, and the month suffered for it. The fourth-quarter report will show whether September’s Korean openers can carry into the winter, and whether premium screens, which took nearly a third of The Odyssey’s money, keep lifting average ticket prices once the big-format titles are gone.
Sources
- KOFIC press releases (보도자료), 29 October 2026: ‘2026년 3분기 한국 영화산업 결산’
- KOBIZ (KOFIC), yearly box office 2026, KOBIS data
- Chungcheong Shinmun, 29 October 2026 (full KOFIC figures)
- Segye Ilbo, 29 October 2026 (special-format share of The Odyssey)
- The Asia Business Daily, 29 October 2026 (independent films)
- Screen International, 29 October 2026
- ECB euro reference rates, 30 September 2026 (KRW 1,539.06, USD 1.1355 per euro)