Theater Industry's Endless Decline... Record Low Sunday Attendance
Weekend Visitors Also Second Lowest Ever... Pain to Endure Greater Than 16 Years Ago
On the 3rd, as concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus infection grow, a movie theater in Gangnam-gu, Seoul is quieter than usual. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@
View original image[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] Even last weekend (14th-15th), movie theaters were deserted. Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the number of visitors dropped sharply.
According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticket sales network on the 16th, the number of visitors to theaters last weekend was 190,106. This is the second lowest since the Korea Film Council began tracking audience numbers in 2004. The lowest weekend attendance on record was 186,829 on March 27-28, 2004.
The scale of the damage last weekend is much more severe than 16 years ago. On March 28, 2004, there were 232 screens. The number of seats was only 201,924. On the 15th, the number of seats was about five times higher at 1,061,166. The number of screens was 5,202, about twenty-two times more. As operating costs have increased significantly, the pain to be endured has also grown.
There are no signs of recovery. The 88,512 theater visitors on the 15th set the record for the lowest Sunday attendance ever. This is 2,303 fewer than the 90,815 on March 28, 2004. The overall seat occupancy rate was only 5.8%. Among movies with more than 1% seat occupancy, none exceeded a 10% sales rate. Except for "About Time (8.9%)" and "Honest Candidate (7.3%)," most hovered between 5% and 6%.
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Due to the continued slump, box office rankings have become meaningless. "Invisible Man," which topped last weekend with 45,282 viewers, failed to attract even 50,000. "Dark Waters" and "1917" remained at 35,439 and 31,579 viewers respectively. "Beasts Clawing at Straws" also only drew 10,989. Other films, including "Honest Candidate (9,879)," failed to attract 10,000 viewers. This includes re-released films offered by theaters as a self-help measure, such as "A Star Is Born (7,128)," "About Time (3,674)," and "Memento (3,559)."
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