The upcoming superhero film "Eternals" is expected to smash the pandemic-hit South Korean box office, with its presale tickets outpacing those of its Marvel predecessor "Black Widow," data showed Monday.

Marvel Studios' latest film to be released Wednesday had recorded 200,000 presold tickets as of 2:30 p.m., two days before its local release, according to the data by the Korean Film Council.

The movie accounted for 78.8 percent of all tickets reserved at that time, overwhelming the American epic sci-fi film "Dune" with 8.6 percent and "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" with 2.3 percent.

The forthcoming film's tally also outnumbers that of "Black Widow," which had 170,000 presold tickets two days ahead of its release in July.

"Eternals" is about the Eternals, a group of immortal superheroes who fight against their evil counterparts, the Deviants, to protect Earth after thousands of years of hiding.

South Korean-born actor Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee, stars in the film as one of the Eternals, becoming the first actor from the Korean entertainment scene to take a lead role in a Marvel superhero film.

Hopes are high that "Eternals" will jumpstart the pandemic-hit film industry with its release nearly coinciding with the start of the government-led "living with COVID-19" policy Monday.

South Korea is famous for its love of superhero movies, as many Marvel franchises have topped the local box office, including "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), which is the largest foreign movie hit ever in the country with 13.9 million attendees. (Yonhap)