Theater Scene Welcomes Spring Again... 1.3 Million Gather

Rebound Trend Sparked by Social Distancing Lift and Anticipated Releases

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spring has fully arrived in the theater industry. The number of daily moviegoers exceeded 1 million for the first time in 2 years and 3 months. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated box office data on the 6th, the number of visitors to movie theaters on the previous day (the 5th) was 1,306,984. This surpassed 1 million for the first time in 829 days since January 27, 2020, when it recorded 1,228,548 visitors.

This rebound is due to the lifting of social distancing measures and the release of highly anticipated films. Since the 25th of last month, the government has allowed eating and drinking in indoor multi-use facilities, which had been prohibited to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Movie theaters have also lifted seat distancing and increased part-time staff, focusing on normalization. The catalyst was the release of "Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness" on the 4th. It attracted 715,325 viewers on the first day and then drew 1,061,675 viewers on the second day, which is 48.4% (346,350 viewers) more than the first day. It accounted for 82.5% of total theater sales. The cumulative number of viewers reached 1,778,248. It is closing in on this year's highest record set by "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (1,991,050 viewers, totaling 7,550,586). On the morning of the 6th, the number of reserved viewers reached 563,037, making its return to the top position certain. However, it seems difficult to avoid controversy over screen monopolization. The seat occupancy rate for this film was 79.9% on the 4th and 73.1% on the 5th. The sales rate was 36.2% and 51.7%, respectively.

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