[2022 National Audit] "Yeongjinwi Integrated Network Full of Vulnerabilities... Box Office Manipulation Too"

'Emergency Declaration' Late-Night Screening Event Ticket Cancellation Incident
"If Cancellation Data Is Not Applied Immediately, Audience Numbers Will Be Inflated"
"Busan International Film Festival Tickets Should Resume On-Site Sales"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system for movie theaters has been criticized for having numerous vulnerabilities.

On the 13th, Ryu Ho-jeong of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly (Justice Party) mentioned the suspicion of manipulation of reservation rates surrounding the movie Emergency Declaration during the national audit. At that time, the integrated ticketing system showed a strange phenomenon where Emergency Declaration screenings on multiple screens at Megabox were all sold out during the early morning hours. Suspicions arose mainly on online communities that the distributor or film company artificially increased the reservation rates. The distributor Showbox immediately explained, "Megabox conducted internal tests ahead of a late-night screening event," adding, "This does not affect real-time reservation rates or box office results at all." In fact, Megabox held a late-night screening event from the 12th to the 14th, offering discounted ticket prices.

What seemed to be resolved resurfaced a few days later. It was revealed that the data was counted as normal ticket issuance and included in the reservation rates and box office. A Korea Film Council official said, "After checking the data, it was confirmed as normal ticket issuance," and added, "We have not received ticket cancellation data from Megabox." When this fact became known through some online communities, Megabox hurriedly collected ticket cancellation data to send to the Korea Film Council.

Regarding this, Representative Ryu said, "It took more than two weeks for the cancellation data to be reflected in the integrated ticketing system," and added, "Last year, a movie that ranked 24th in the box office due to so-called 'ghost screenings' surged to 4th place." She emphasized, "Distributors with sufficient capital can increase audience numbers and manipulate box office rankings by purchasing large quantities of tickets under the name of nationwide preview screenings or discounted tickets and issuing them themselves. Since people choose movies based on such manipulated rankings, improvements are necessary." Korea Film Council Chairman Park Ki-yong responded, "I think there is a problem," and said, "We will prepare countermeasures as soon as possible."

Representative Ryu also pointed out issues with the ticketing system of the Busan International Film Festival, which opened on the 5th. Although the festival sold all tickets online, it failed to manage the system on the first day of reservations, causing inconvenience to consumers. Representative Ryu criticized, "The problem is not just the system crash. There is no password setting, making it possible for others to make reservations." She continued, "Online ticketing thoroughly excludes groups vulnerable to internet reservations. If on-site ticket sales became scalped tickets and caused problems, we should consider ways to solve this rather than abolishing the sales method itself, which is undesirable." Chairman Park said, "We will establish a system befitting the status of the Busan International Film Festival."

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