"Sold Out All Seats in Early Morning"… Police Investigate CGV and Others for Box Office Manipulation

The police have conducted a search and seizure operation targeting multiplexes and film distributors suspected of manipulating box office rankings.

The appearance of CGV Myeongdong Station Cine Library. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

According to the police on the 13th, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been carrying out search and seizure operations since the morning at three multiplex companies?'CGV', 'Lotte Cinema', and 'Megabox'?as well as three distributors?'Showbox', 'Kidari ENT', and 'Lotte Cultureworks'?who are suspected of obstructing business.

They are accused of falsifying audience numbers to manipulate box office rankings, thereby interfering with the operations of the Korean Film Council.

The police reportedly initiated the investigation based on internal intelligence. In August of last year, suspicions arose mainly on online communities that distributors or film companies artificially inflated reservation rates. On August 4 of the same year, it was detected that the movie 'Emergency Declaration' was sold out simultaneously across multiple screens at Megabox during early morning hours in the Korean Film Council's integrated computer network.

Several films are suspected of having manipulated rankings, including 'Emergency Declaration' and 'Rain and Your Story'.

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