In May, a Breeze in the Film Industry... Movie Theater Visitors Recover to Pre-COVID Levels

Analysis of Tmap Mobility Navigation App 'Tmap'
Approximately 740,000 Vehicles Visited Movie Theaters in May
Surpassing Visitor Numbers from December 2019

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Amid the ongoing box office boom in the film industry, it has been revealed that the number of drivers using the navigation application 'T map' to find movie theaters has recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels.

According to T map Mobility on the 31st, from May 1 to 30, the total number of vehicles that set movie theaters as their destination on T map was 738,289, averaging 25,458 vehicles per day. This is higher than the 734,709 vehicles (daily average of 23,700) recorded in December 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The number of vehicles traveling to movie theaters hovered around 200,000 to 400,000 per month for 1 year and 9 months thereafter, but increased again to 510,308 in December last year amid the 'gradual recovery to daily life' atmosphere.

T map Mobility attributed this to the seasonal factor of May being the 'month of family' combined with the box office success of new releases such as 'Crime City 2' and 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.' The two films released this month have surpassed a total audience of 13 million.

Conversely, the enthusiasm for drive-in theaters, which had enjoyed a COVID-19 boom, has cooled down. Visits to drive-in theaters, which were 8,713 vehicles in January 2020, doubled to 16,488 in February within a month and steadily increased to 45,105 vehicles by August last year, but have dropped back to the 10,000 range this year.

Ko Jae-hyun, Head of External Policy at T map Mobility, said, "With the joyful news from the recent Cannes Film Festival, we have confirmed that the film industry is gradually regaining vitality. We will continue to strive to help the public enjoy more pleasant leisure time through various data-based services such as 'T Now.'"

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