Movie Theaters Losing Adhesive Base... Full of Hygiene Management Loopholes

For the First Time Since April 7, 2004, Attendance Falls Below 50,000... Old Movies Re-screened Desperately
Hygiene Conditions Worsen as Part-time Workers Decrease Due to Labor Cost Issues

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jonggil Lee] The theater industry has collapsed. It has even lost the barely sustaining foundation. The daily audience is 50,000. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system on the 13th, the number of moviegoers who visited theaters the day before (the 12th) was 49,621. This is the first time since April 7, 2004, when the number was 49,802, that it failed to reach 50,000. As the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) prolonged, the number of visitors has significantly decreased.

Theaters are enclosed spaces with a high risk of transmission. If a COVID-19 confirmed patient visits, others are exposed to infection risk unprotected for about two hours. Preventive disinfection measures cannot be carried out daily. Each session costs more than 200,000 won. Rather, due to labor cost issues, recent reductions in hiring part-time workers have worsened hygiene conditions. With no alternative, countries such as China, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Kuwait, Greece, and India hastily closed all theaters.

Domestic theaters continue to screen movies even by reducing operating hours. The result is disastrous. From the 1st to the 12th of this month, only 890,221 people visited theaters. This is about one-seventh of the 6,664,160 visitors during the same period last year. Revenue also shrank from 58,084,872,150 won to 7,561,487,750 won.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The danger level crossed the threshold on the 12th. The box office leader, "The Invisible Man," failed to attract even 10,000 viewers. It gathered only 9,700 people across 534 screens (1,383 showings). The new release "Dark Waters" (7,902 viewers) and the critically acclaimed "1917" (6,279 viewers) barely exceeded 5,000. "Beasts Clawing at Straws" (2,667 viewers), "Little Women" (2,242 viewers), "A Star Is Born" (2,152 viewers), and "Honest Candidate" (2,089 viewers) all drew fewer than 3,000 viewers.

Only two films surpassed a seat occupancy rate of 5%: "About Time" (5.8%) and "A Star Is Born" (5.1%). Screens with over 200 seats have essentially become private rentals for a small number of viewers. Although theaters are on the brink of bankruptcy, the Korea Film Council has done little beyond sending out surveys. They provided 5,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, but not all theaters received them.

The responses from multiplexes such as CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox are equally insufficient. As new releases are postponed one after another, they are scrambling to re-screen old films. Their focus is less on hygiene management and more on minimizing COVID-19 damage by any means. They are desperately waiting for the special occasion when new releases flood the market.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Min-young, who visited Theater A in Suwon the day before, said, "There was foreign matter on the seat I purchased, so I moved to another seat. I doubt whether cleaning is done properly." Park Hye-jun, who visited the same theater, said, "The part-time worker who should assist customers frequently left their post, so inquiries took a long time. They also did not wear masks outside the ticket booth."

The avoidance of theaters may continue for some time. Even if the domestic situation calms down, it cannot be assured as COVID-19 threatens the entire world. It could become a hotbed for a resurgence of COVID-19, so long-term measures are necessary. No theater has yet proposed a sharp solution. This is because no cases of infection contracted in theaters have been reported. This is not due to excellent theater responses but rather evidence that people avoid visiting them.

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