'Super Mario Galaxy' powers past 1m admissions while 'Salmokji' climbs to No. 2 on all-time Korean horror chart
"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" has crossed 1 million admissions in Korea, topping the local box office over the Labor Day long weekend that turned the chart into a three-way race between the animated sequel, "The Devil Wears Prada 2" and homegrown horror hit "Salmokji: Whispering Water."
The Universal-distributed sequel passed the milestone Tuesday morning, seven days after its April 29 opening, according to the Korean Film Council's box office tracker. That makes it the fastest non-Korean title to clear 1 million admissions in 2026, edging "Project Hail Mary," which took 11 days to reach the mark.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, "Super Mario Galaxy" picks up after 2023's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" with Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day and Jack Black returning to the voice cast. The film has grossed $897 million worldwide to date and stands as the year's top-earning release globally.
Families out for the long weekend and ahead of the Children's Day holiday on Tuesday powered the weekend run. From Friday through Sunday, "Super Mario Galaxy" drew 575,467 admissions, outselling fellow April 29 opener "The Devil Wears Prada 2" (482,827) and former three-week leader "Salmokji: Whispering Water" (398,023) during the same period.
David Frankel's "Devil Wears Prada 2," the 20th Century Studios much-anticipated follow-up to the 2006 original, as of Tuesday had drawn 834,453 admissions since its April 29 opening. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci all return, with Justin Theroux and Kenneth Branagh added to the cast.
The film opened in Korea two days before its May 1 North American debut, with Streep and Hathaway visiting Seoul in early April to promote it.
The local horror "Salmokji: Whispering Water," meanwhile, has reached its own milestone. The Kim Hye-yoon-led chiller crossed 2.72 million admissions on Monday to become the second-most-watched Korean horror film of all time, surpassing 2018's "Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum" (2.68 million). Only 2003's "A Tale of Two Sisters" (3.14 million) sits above it.
Distributed by Showbox — the studio fresh off "The King's Warden," which became the highest-grossing Korean film of all time earlier this year — the film stars Lee Jong-won opposite Kim and follows a street-view mapping crew that runs into a ghost while shooting at a remote reservoir.
Rounding out the field, Sony's "Project Hail Mary" added 95,070 admissions over the long weekend to reach a cumulative 2.68 million tickets sold.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
