Korean Box Office Has Yet To Find Post-Coronavirus New Normal

South Korean cinemas have reopened. But business is far from normal.

Nationwide box office over the weekend trickled in at just 7% of what it was this time last year. And with Hollywood’s direct players and local distributors reluctant to release big titles since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, screens have been filled with re-releases and small to mid-sized foreign films.

Unusually, not a single Korean film appeared in the weekend’s top ten chart.

American musical drama “The Greatest Showman” re-opened on Thursday and took top spot, earning $205,600 over opening five days. Other re-releases that appeared on the top ten spots include 2018’s action comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” Makoto Shinkai’s Japanese animation “Weathering with You,” and Chinese director Chen Kaige’s historical drama “Farewell My Concubine.”

“The Platform,” which has been released on global streaming platform Netflix, received a theatrical release on May 13 and has managed to earn $387,000 after two weekends. The only newcomers of the weekend, French rom com “La Belle Epoque,” American war drama “The Last Full Measure” opened in third and eighth, respectively.

A couple of local mainstream films that had been scheduled for May outings, including Sony and Kidari Entertainment’s “Innocence” and Acemaker Movieworks’ “Intruder,” will now open in early June