Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man 4” Sets the Highest Advance Ticket Sales This Year, Surpassing “Hope” with More Than 930,000 Tickets

The return of Spider-Man that will reshape this year’s theater scene

It has been rewriting box-office history since the very first day of release. The Marvel blockbuster starring ‘Tom Holland’, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (hereafter ‘Spider-Man 4’), announced the birth of this year’s top hit by surging past 930,000 tickets in advance sales as soon as it opened on the 29th.

According to data from the Integrated Computerized Ticketing Network for movie theater admissions, as of 7 a.m. that day, the number of ticket buyers for ‘Spider-Man 4’ stood at about 933,000. The advance-booking rate came in at a whopping 73.4%, beating director Christopher Nolan’s new work ‘Odyssey’ (11.8%) and director Na Hong-jin’s ‘Hope’ (6.5%) by a wide margin to take the top spot. It not only tops the figure for ‘Hope’, which had held on to daily No. 1 at the box office for 14 straight days, but also marks the highest advance ticket sales among all films set to release this year.

This installment shines a deep light on the harsh reality and new threats facing an adult Peter Parker forgotten by the world. Led by an unidentified villain who can control other people’s minds, the film depicts the protagonist’s painful growing pains through clashes with characters armed with overwhelming destructive power, such as ‘Scorpion’ and ‘Hulk’. In particular, it reels in viewers with its signature web-swing action spanning New York’s skyscraper skyline, as well as an intense, breathless battle against the assassination group ‘The Hand’, delivered with the franchise’s fast-paced directing style.

With ‘Spider-Man 4’ hitting theaters, the summer’s biggest peak-season box-office war has officially kicked off. The return of a mega-hit franchise that amassed 22 million cumulative domestic admissions put a stop to the solo run by ‘Hope’, which drew 3.61 million viewers. And with ‘Odyssey’, set for release on next month’s 5th, joining the fray as well, the Korean summer theater market is expected to become the most fiercely contested, with major films competing head to head.