Wonder Woman Could Not Overcome the COVID-19 Box Office Crisis

308,155 Visitors Stayed Over the Three Days Last Weekend... Seat Occupancy Rate at 7.7%
Significantly Below Last Year's 2,010,648 Visitors on Christmas Day Alone

On the 7th, a day before the government’s implementation of raising social distancing to level 2.5 in the Seoul metropolitan area, a movie theater in downtown Seoul is less crowded than usual.
Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

The cold wave in theaters continued even during the Christmas holiday. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system on the 28th, the number of moviegoers who visited theaters over the past weekend (25th-27th) was 308,155. The overall seat occupancy rate was only 7.7%. This fell far short of last year's Christmas day attendance of 2,010,648.

'Wonder Woman 1984' also could not hold its ground against the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite securing 66.1% of all seats, it attracted only 211,412 viewers. The seat occupancy rate was 7.2%, with a cumulative audience of 303,835. 'Collectors,' recently released on video on demand (VOD), drew the second highest number of 18,033 viewers. This was a 9.4% (1,542 viewers) increase compared to the third weekend of this month (18th-20th). Among films securing more than 10,000 seats, it showed the second highest sales rate (9.6%). The cumulative audience reached 1,511,574.

'Josee,' which had topped the weekend box office for two consecutive weeks, slipped two places. It recorded 17,063 viewers with a seat occupancy rate of 5.7%. This was a 44.8% (13,824 viewers) decrease compared to the third weekend of this month. The cumulative audience was 173,825. Re-released films such as 'In the Mood for Love' (14,626 viewers), '100% Wolf: I Can’t Be a Poodle' (7,253 viewers), 'Neighbor' (6,560 viewers), 'Run' (3,763 viewers), 'A Street Cat Named Bob 2' (2,655 viewers), and 'Summer of 85' (2,621 viewers) followed in order.

The drought in theaters is expected to continue for some time. As the spread of COVID-19 intensifies, not only Hollywood blockbusters but also Korean films have postponed their releases one after another. These include 'Seobok,' 'Life is Beautiful,' and 'New Year's Eve.' With discussions underway about implementing Level 3 social distancing, the woes of the theater industry are expected to deepen further.

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