Movie Theater Attendance Exceeds 30,000 for Two Consecutive Days

Seat Sales Rate at 2.9%... Total Revenue Reaches Only 279.57 Million Won

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] The number of daily moviegoers at theaters remained in the 30,000 range for two consecutive days. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system on the 18th, a total of 36,839 people watched movies at theaters the previous day. Following 36,447 on the 16th, it once again failed to surpass 40,000.

As the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has prolonged, visits to theaters have sharply declined. This month, there have been only four days when more than 100,000 people visited theaters. While weekdays maintained 50,000 to 60,000 visitors, the number dropped to the 30,000 range starting from the 16th. The overall seat occupancy rate is 2.9%. A 100-seat screen has become a space rented by just two or three people.

The box office rankings have become virtually meaningless. The leader, Invisible Man (7,922 viewers), failed to attract even 8,000. Dark Waters (5,136 viewers) and 1917 (5,004 viewers) barely exceeded 5,000. Re-released films arranged by theaters as self-help measures, such as A Star Is Born (1,479 viewers), Memento (755 viewers), Schindler's List (622 viewers), and About Time (591 viewers), also failed to gain traction. Total sales amounted to 279,575,860 KRW, with Korean films accounting for about one-sixth of that, 45,886,220 KRW.

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