▲ A poster for "The Roundup: Punishment" is shown on the wall of a local cinema in Seoul on April 24, 2024. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) -- Last month, the success of 'The Roundup 4' propelled the market share of Korean films to a record high for May, both in terms of box office revenue and audience numbers.

 

According to data released by the Korean Film Council on the 12th, Korean films accounted for 64.2% of total box office revenue and 64.9% of total audience numbers in May. These figures are the highest on record for the month of May. Typically, Korean films account for about 50% of the market share, varying with the circumstances in the cinema market.

 

The strong performance of Korean films last month was largely driven by the success of 'The Roundup 4'. The film alone generated 59.3 billion won (approximately US$45.3 million) in revenue, making up 84.1% of the total revenue for Korean films, which was 70.5 billion won. Similarly, 'The Roundup 4' drew in 6.17 million viewers, accounting for 83.7% of the 7.37 million total audience for Korean films.

 

However, this dominance led to some controversy, as the major multiplex chains concentrated their screens on 'The Roundup 4', leading to accusations of monopolizing screen availability.

 

Foreign films, on the other hand, performed poorly last month. The total revenue for foreign films was 39.3 billion won, only 42.6% of the pre-pandemic May average from 2017 to 2019, which was 92.2 billion won. Audience numbers for foreign films also fell short, with 3.98 million viewers, just 36.8% of the pre-pandemic May average of 10.82 million viewers. This underperformance was partly attributed to the screen concentration on 'The Roundup 4' and the lack of new major Hollywood releases due to last year's strike.

 

Overall, the combined revenue from Korean and foreign films in May was 109.8 billion won, 74.3% of the pre-pandemic average, and total audience numbers were 11.36 million, 64.7% of the pre-pandemic May average.

 

Despite the dominance of 'The Roundup 4', some small and medium-sized films also performed well. The re-release of the Japanese romance film 'The Last Ten Years' attracted 130,000 viewers, becoming the top independent/art film in May. Since its re-release on April 3, the film has generated 4.2 billion won in revenue, three times its original release revenue of 1.4 billion won last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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