Film Industry Staggered by COVID-19 Spread... Revenue Drops 63.6%

Total Estimated Revenue Combining Theaters, Digital Online, and Overseas Sales 913.2 Billion KRW... Lowest Ever
Theater Sales Down 73.3%... Digital Online Sales Also Decreased by 28.6%

A movie theater in Seoul is less crowded than usual on the 7th, one day before the government implements the 2.5-level social distancing measures in the metropolitan area. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

This year, the domestic film industry's revenue is projected to decrease by 63.6% compared to last year. Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), a clear decline is expected across almost all sectors.

According to the report "COVID-19 Shock: 2020 Korean Film Industry Preliminary Settlement" released by the Korean Film Council on the 14th, the estimated total revenue from theaters, digital online, and overseas sales this year is 913.2 billion KRW. This is the lowest since the Korean Film Council began calculating film industry revenue in 2004. For the first time, it did not exceed 1 trillion KRW. It is 63.3% less than last year's record high of 2.5093 trillion KRW.

The decrease in theater revenue, the industry's core base, is particularly painful. It is estimated at 510.3 billion KRW, 73.3% less than last year's 1.914 trillion KRW. When the monthly confirmed COVID-19 cases exceed 5,000, the number of theatergoers in the following month dropped to less than half compared to the previous month. The Korean Film Council expects about 60 million theatergoers this year. This month’s estimate is 1.64 million, 92.7% less than the same month last year.

Digital online revenue from TV, internet VOD (video on demand), and others is estimated at 363.5 billion KRW, 28.6% less than last year's 509.3 billion KRW. The report explained, "Revenue and usage counts were higher than last year from January to March but lower from April onward." It added, "As of October, revenue decreased by 21.2% and usage counts by 15.8% compared to last year."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Overseas revenue from completed works, technical services, and equipment exports is estimated at 39.4 billion KRW, 54.2% less than last year's 86 billion KRW. On the other hand, the domestic OTT market size is expected to be 780.1 billion KRW, 145.6 billion KRW more than last year. In fact, as films like "Time to Hunt," "Call," "Space Sweepers," and "Cha In-pyo" skipped theatrical release and went straight to Netflix, overall OTT usage increased up to 52%.

The damage caused by COVID-19 was also evident in film production and release. In the second survey conducted by the Korean Film Council, the damage scale for 135 works was calculated at 32.9 billion KRW. The largest damage was due to production delays and changes, amounting to 13.4 billion KRW. This was followed by delays in release preparation (9.7 billion KRW), production suspension or cancellation (6.7 billion KRW), suspension or cancellation of release preparation (2.5 billion KRW), and damage during release (2.1 billion KRW).

With fewer new releases, the screening range for independent/art films and re-releases expanded. The number of independent/art film screenings this year until last month was 514,814, a 19.2% increase compared to 415,699 during the same period last year. Re-releases numbered 250 titles, 155 more than last year's 95 titles.

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