“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has run into an unusual roadblock overseas. Pre-sales for the film have been halted in South Korea after it posted the best first-day pre-sales revenue of any comic book movie this decade, with more than 100,000 tickets reportedly sold before the shutdown was ordered.
Why Ticket Sales Were Pulled
The objection was not about the film itself but about procedure. Pre-sales reportedly opened on July 8, before the film had completed its official age-rating classification in South Korea, and domestic film distributors accused the studio of market disruption and gaining an unfair commercial advantage. Under that pressure, the Korean Film Council reportedly ordered the suspension of advance ticket sales while the classification process is completed.
The situation is a striking illustration of just how much demand the film is generating. Rather than an underperformance story, this is the rare case of a movie’s advance sales being throttled because they raced ahead of the paperwork. South Korea has long been one of the most reliable international markets for Marvel titles, and the early numbers there suggested “Brand New Day” was on track to be a significant draw, with premium formats like IMAX and ScreenX selling out quickly.
Momentum Heading Into Release
The pause does little to dampen expectations for the film, which opens in South Korea on July 29 before arriving in North American theaters on July 31. Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker in a story that has already teased a clash with a Savage Hulk and an alliance with the Punisher. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige also all but confirmed an appearance from Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova this weekend, telling fans at Bilibili World in Shanghai that they “might see Yelena a little bit sooner” than her big role in “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Domestically the film has been just as strong out of the gate, as we noted when “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” tracked for a $180 million opening, the biggest of 2026. Whether Korean theaters resume advance sales closer to release remains to be seen.
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