Cinema Workers Face Severe Job Insecurity... Contract Positions Decrease by 70.2%

Permanent employees also decreased by 15.9%... Sales decline due to COVID-19 spread
8 multiplexes closed and 10 suspended operations "Increasingly pressured by the SVOD market"

On the 29th, the first weekend after the social distancing level in the Seoul metropolitan area was raised to Level 2, a movie theater in downtown Seoul was less crowded than usual. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

This year, movie theater workers have suffered from severe job insecurity.

According to the report "COVID-19 Shock: 2020 Korean Film Industry Preliminary Settlement" released by the Korean Film Council on the 14th, the number of contract workers employed at 407 movie theaters nationwide was 3,450 (as of October). This is a decrease of 8,144 (70.2%) from 11,594 last year. The number of regular employees also fell by 621 (15.9%), from 3,912 to 3,291.

The decline is due to reduced sales caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). According to the report, estimated movie theater sales this year were 510.3 billion KRW, 73.3% less than last year's 1.914 trillion KRW. When the monthly number of confirmed cases exceeded 5,000, the number of moviegoers the following month dropped to less than half compared to the previous month. The Korean Film Council projected about 60 million moviegoers this year. The estimate for this month was 1.64 million, 92.7% less than the same month last year.

In January, before the spread of COVID-19, the number of movie theater employees was 15,409. However, as the spread intensified, the number dropped below 10,000 in March and further declined to the 6,000 range by October. The number of employees on leave also reached 1,455 in April.

During this prolonged drought, multiplexes closed five directly managed theaters and three consigned theaters this year. Seven directly managed theaters and three consigned theaters are also not operating. Non-affiliated movie theaters have closed two locations and suspended operations at sixteen others.

The road ahead looks long even if the COVID-19 situation calms down. The report stated, "Movie theaters are slowly recovering, but the Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) market is steadily growing. By 2024, it is expected to generate twice the box office revenue." It added, "Changes in distribution platforms as well as movements to adjust stakeholders within the industry are accelerating."

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