Korean Films' Dismal Report Card... July Market Share Drops to 20% Range

Korean Movie Revenue 31.6 Billion Won... 330,000 Viewers
Foreign Films Thrive with Hits 'Elemental' and 'Mission 7'

Last month, the market share of Korean films in box office revenue remained at 22.6%. The number of moviegoers who visited theaters in July was 14.28 million, of which 3.33 million watched Korean films.

According to the 2023 July Korean film industry report released by the Korean Film Council the day before, last month’s box office revenue for Korean films was 31.6 billion KRW, with an audience of 3.33 million. The revenue market share stood at 22.6%, and the audience share was 23.3%.

On the 10th, when the sweltering heat was at its peak, citizens visited a movie theater in downtown Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The number of Korean film viewers was the third lowest for July since the integrated ticketing system for movie theaters began operation in 2004.

The Korean Film Council explained, "Due to the release of 'Mission: Impossible ? Dead Reckoning PART ONE,' there were no Korean films with strong box office power released in early to mid-July, and the Korean films released in late June also performed poorly, resulting in decreases in both revenue and audience compared to the previous month and the same month last year."

Foreign films saw increases in both revenue and audience numbers with the release of Disney Pixar’s animation 'Elemental' and the Tom Cruise-led action blockbuster 'Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning PART ONE.' Last month, foreign films recorded box office revenue of 108.4 billion KRW and an audience of 10.95 million, recovering to 82.0% of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level.

The total box office revenue last month was 140 billion KRW, recovering to 80.9% of the July average from 2017 to 2019, which was 173 billion KRW. This represents a 17.8% (30.4 billion KRW) decrease compared to the same month last year.

The total audience in July was 14.28 million, which is 67.9% of the 21.02 million average audience in July from 2017 to 2019. This is a 12.3% (2.01 million) decrease compared to the same month last year.

The Korean Film Council analyzed that due to the poor performance of Korean films, both total box office revenue and total audience numbers decreased compared to the previous month and the same month last year.

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