With Regional Box Office Down 88 Percent, South Korea Sees Promising Increase In Movie Attendance

Box office revenue in the Asia-Pacific region was down 88% over the first few months of 2020. According to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report, South Korea’s box office was down 65.3% in the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same period in the year before. In comparison, China saw ticket sales falling 97.4% and Japan saw revenues fall 46.2%.

As the fourth-largest box office territory in the world, South Korea had a robust film industry before the COVID-19 pandemic limited theater attendance. An estimated 16.8 million moviegoers bought tickets in January 2020, with that number falling to 7.37 million during February, then plummeting to 1.83 million in March.

The Korean Film Council, which has kept box office records since 2004, estimates that April was the first time the nation’s monthly box office sales fell below one million. Although sales reached an all-time low in April, recent box office numbers suggest movie theater attendance may once more be on the rise. 

The South Korean government did not mandate the closing of movie theaters during the pandemic. The decision about whether or not to stay open was left to theater owners. However, as people refrained from visiting potentially crowded spaces, cinema attendance dropped dramatically, prompting some theaters to close.

Successful policies to contain the transmission of COVID-19 have recently resulted in several days of no new domestic cases and a proposed easing of some restrictions. That’s good news for an industry hard hit by social distancing requirements. Some theater chains have announced plans to reopen. 

Korea’s largest multiplex cinema chain, CJ CGV, closed about 30% of its 116 sites, but on April 30 reopened 36 cinemas, while Lotte Cinema re-opened six cinemas closed in areas disproportionately affected by the virus. Megabox is also expected to re-open several sites. Theaters will feature distanced seating, as well as employing disinfectants and masks. 

During the long weekend that began on April 30 with the national holiday of Buddha’s birthday, theaters did see an uptick in box office sales.

The Korean Film Council reported that on April 30 more than 100,000 people visited theaters. It was the first time that Korea’s movie theaters sold 100,000 tickets a day since mid-March. The films moviegoers bought the most tickets for the animated film Trolls World Tour, voiced by Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake; the Taiwanese romantic film Love the Way You Are, and the Korean horror film Hotel Lake, starring Lee Se-young and Park Ji-young.