Frozen 2 Swept Korean Box Office... Record High Sound and Visual Payment in Korea

Record High 'Audio-Visual and Related Service Payments' in January

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eun-byeol] Last winter, Disney's feature animation 'Frozen 2' set a box office record in South Korea, significantly increasing the amount of money paid overseas related to video content. This is the largest monthly amount ever recorded.

According to the Bank of Korea on the 7th, the 'Payments for Audiovisual and Related Services' in January reached $80,000,050. This is the largest monthly amount ever recorded. Compared to December last year ($49 million), the payment amount increased by 64.3% in just one month, and compared to January of the previous year ($23.5 million), the payment amount surged by 242.6%.

The previous highest monthly payment was $63.1 million (September last year).

As overseas audiovisual payments increased significantly, the balance of personal, cultural, and leisure services turned to a deficit for the first time in four months. The deficit in January was $31 million, the largest deficit compared to the past.

This phenomenon is interpreted as a result of the success of 'Frozen 2,' which was released domestically in November last year, and the large amount of money received by the U.S. distributor in January. Disney's animation 'Frozen 2' is the second highest-grossing foreign film released domestically, surpassing the 2009 film 'Avatar.'

An official from the Bank of Korea explained, "When a foreign film that is successful in South Korea is released, royalties are paid to the U.S. distributor, causing a sharp increase in payments in certain months." He added, "Although the use of systems like Netflix to watch movies is increasing, most of the royalty costs are for films shown in theaters."

According to the Korea Film Council's integrated computer network, the cumulative audience for Frozen 2 reached 13,739,694. This surpassed the final audience number of 13,624,328 for James Cameron's 'Avatar.' It ranks 6th in the all-time domestic box office rankings. Among foreign films in the domestic box office rankings, it is 2nd following 'Avengers: Endgame.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.