Over 300 Films' 'Box Office' Manipulation... 69 Theater and Distributor Officials Referred

Police "Plan to Recommend Improvements Including Lack of Sanction Regulations to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism"

In connection with allegations that movie theaters and distributors inflated audience numbers for over 300 films to manipulate box office rankings, the police have referred 69 individuals related to theaters and distributors to the prosecution.

On the 16th, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it had sent 69 individuals from 3 theaters and 24 distributors to the prosecution without detention on charges of obstruction of business.

According to the police, from March 2018 to June of this year, they are suspected of obstructing the integrated computer network operation of the Korean Film Council, which manages box office operations, by inputting false ticketing information to make it appear that all seats were sold out during specific time slots to boost box office rankings. It was confirmed that a total of 323 films were manipulated, with 2.67 million false ticketings.

The police expanded the investigation in June after allegations arose regarding the manipulation of rankings for four films, including the documentary film "Geudaega Joguk" (You Are Joguk), featuring former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. "Geudaega Joguk" was the highest-grossing independent film released last year, surpassing 300,000 cumulative viewers within two weeks of its release in May last year. However, it is suspected that audience numbers were inflated as 199 out of 577 screenings during late-night and early-morning hours were sold out.

On June 13, the police conducted raids on three multiplex companies?CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox?as well as three distributors?Lotte Entertainment, Showbox, and Kidari Studio. Through this investigation, 24 distributors out of 98 were referred to the prosecution for issuing more than 20,000 false tickets.

A police official stated, "We plan to recommend improvements such as limiting the entities that transmit data like audience numbers to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Film Council to theaters only, and addressing the lack of separate sanctions regulations for distributors who conspire in this matter."

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