Korean films gain presence in 1st trimester of 2011

Official posters for "Detective K" (left) and "Meet the In-Laws" [Showbox / Lotte Entertainment]

Less people visited movie theaters during the first trimester of this year but Korean films saw an increase in number of admissions, according to data released by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) over the weekend.

Statistics on Korea's box office from the January to April period of 2011 showed that less than a total of 41.80 million turned up at theaters, which points to an 8.3 percent drop from last year's 45. 58 million.

However, about 23.41 million people watched Korean films, the figure up 20.5 percent from last year's 19.42 million.

This means Korean films accounted for 56.1 percent of the market's share, boosted by the strong performance of movies including "Detective K," "Meet the In-Laws," and "The Last Godfather" which each attracted over two million viewers.

"It seems that easy-to-watch, light comedies were popular with spring coming around," the KOFIC attributed the hike to, along with the decreased presence of foreign films.

James Cameron's smash-hit pic "Avatar" alone had drawn in over 13.57 million admissions on the Korean box office last year but no foreign films surpassed the two million mark while only "Gulliver's Travels" and "Black Swan" sold 1.5 million tickets.

In total, foreign films' share in the Korean market plunged by 30 percent compared to the first four months of last year.

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Jessica Kim jesskim@