Movie Theaters Still Gloomy... 'Avengers' Effect Also Minimal

20,336 Movie Theater Visitors the Previous Day... Overall Seat Sales Rate 2.6%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jonggil Lee] Movie theaters remain bleak. Only two or three people visit a screen with 100 seats. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system on the 23rd, the number of moviegoers who visited theaters the previous day was 21,336. This is an increase of 1,334 from 20,002 on the 21st, but the overall seat occupancy rate remained at 2.6%. Although the COVID-19 situation is gradually easing, there is little sign of recovery. The average daily number of viewers this month is 27,620. There has not been a single day with over 50,000 visitors. Days with over 40,000 visitors are only five.

The chilly atmosphere is confirmed by the seat occupancy rate. Among films securing over 10,000 seats, only "Cinema Heaven (5.2%)" exceeded 5%. Titles ranking high in the box office such as "La La Land (2,928 viewers, 3.0%)", "1917 (2,409 viewers, 2.7%)", "Inuyashiki: Hero VS Villain (1,578 viewers, 3.9%)", "Search Out (1,446 viewers, 2.0%)", and "Secret Agent: In the Prison (1,028 viewers, 2.7%)" all recorded around 3% occupancy.

As visitors dwindle, the average daily revenue of movie theaters this month has dropped to about 221.8 million KRW. It is at a level where not even labor costs can be covered, let alone rent and maintenance fees. The re-screening of the popular "Avengers" series was expected to be an opportunity for a rebound, but even this is not promising. The total number of reserved viewers for the four films "Avengers: Endgame (3,599 viewers)", "Avengers (3,291 viewers)", "Avengers: Infinity War (2,949 viewers)", and "Avengers: Age of Ultron (2,082 viewers)" was 11,921 as of 8 a.m. on the 23rd.

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