(ATTN: UPDATES with film exceeding 1 million admissions in paras 1-6; RECASTS headline)

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- The latest Spider-Man film became the fastest film of 2026 to attract 1 million moviegoers in South Korea, reaching the milestone on just the second day of its release, the film's local distributor said Thursday.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day," the fourth installment starring Tom Holland, hit the 1 million mark in attendance Thursday afternoon, Sony Pictures said.

The achievement beat the previous record for the year set by Na Hong-jin's sci-fi thriller "Hope," which took three days to reach the same threshold after its release on July 15.

Among Marvel franchises, the new Spider-Man movie matched the pace of "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018), which also hit 1 million admissions in two days, the distributor said.

The fourth Spider-Man film also posted the biggest opening-day audience of any film released this year, drawing 688,000 moviegoers Wednesday to debut atop the local box office, according to data from the Korean Film Council.

The figure surpassed the opening-day attendances of "Hope," with 333,000, and Yeon Sang-ho's zombie thriller "Colony," with 199,000, both released earlier this year.

It also exceeded the first-day results of previous entries in the franchise: "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017) with 540,000, "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019) with 670,000 and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021) with 630,000.

The new film follows an adult Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he confronts new threats while grappling with having been forgotten by everyone who knows him, including his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon).

"Hope" has slipped to second place at the daily box office, ending a 14-day streak at the top since its release July 15. The film saw about 87,000 viewers Wednesday, bringing its cumulative audience to 3.7 million.

sshim@yna.co.kr

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