▲ This file photo from March, 2024, shows a multiplex cinema in Seoul. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- This year's average movie ticket price in South Korean theaters has dropped below 10,000 won for the first time in three years.

 

According to the Korean Film Council's report on the first half of the 2024 film industry, the average ticket price was 9,698 won. In the first half of 2021, the price was below 10,000 won, but it exceeded this mark in the first half of 2022, reaching 10,077 won, and further increased to 10,410 won in the first half of last year. However, it has now fallen back below 10,000 won.

 

The decline is attributed to a significant drop in revenue from premium screenings such as IMAX and ScreenX, which have higher ticket prices. In the first half of this year, revenue from these special screenings was 38.1 billion won, down 51.8% compared to the same period last year.

 

This decline is linked to the poor performance of Hollywood blockbusters, which have typically driven sales in these special formats. Only two foreign films, "Wonka" and "Inside Out 2," surpassed 3 million cumulative viewers in the first half of this year. The delays in blockbuster releases due to the Hollywood strike last year also had an impact.

 

Overall, the total revenue of domestic theaters in the first half of the year was 610.3 billion won, a mere 0.4% increase compared to the same period last year, with 62.93 million viewers, an increase of 7.8%. When compared to the pre-pandemic average of the first half of 2017-2019, this year’s revenue was 72.7% of the average, and the number of viewers was 62.3%, indicating a slow recovery from the pandemic's impact.

 

Korean films performed relatively well, thanks to hits like "Exhuma" and "The Roundup 4," with revenue in the first half of this year reaching 358.3 billion won, 91.2% of the pre-pandemic level and a 68.8% increase compared to last year. Korean films accounted for 58.7% of the total revenue, surpassing foreign films.

 

However, extreme polarization in box office performance tarnished these results. Excluding "Exhuma" and "The Roundup 4," no Korean film released in the first half of the year surpassed 20 billion won in revenue or 2 million viewers.

 

Regionally, Gyeonggi Province outperformed Seoul in terms of theater attendance for the first time since records began in 2013, with 16.29 million viewers compared to Seoul's 16.11 million.

 

Showbox, the distributor of "Exhuma" and "Citizen of a Kind," topped the distributor revenue rankings with 133 billion won.

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