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Dec
14
2006

[Korean Film News] Korean box office takes surprise tumble in November

Posted by Jon Pais at 1:11pm.

Posted in Box Office News, Asia.

Korea’s all-important theatrical B.O. took a worrying dip in November. The recent termination of discount schemes and a poor line-up of local movies have both been blamed. Admissions in the Seoul metropolitan region totaled 2.788 million, an 11% drop compared with the same month last year, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). That was a 31% tumble from the busy month of October. November is often a minor month at the Korean B.O. – last year it was the ninth busiest month – but November 2006 is on course to be the weakest of this year.
Discount schemes which took Won2,000 ($2.2) off the price of a Won7,000 ($7.66) ticket were offered to cinemagoers by mobile phone companies, including SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom. Previously the phone companies paid 70% of the discount to theater chains as compensation, but after the hardtops asked for reimbursement in full the schemes were axed. Price sensitivity seems high in Korea, especially in the youth market that has swelled auds in recent years. One survey conducted by Daejon YMCA showed 63% of Daejon residents less likely to go to the movies in the absence of discounts schemes. Another, survey by Internet portal Daum put that figure at 81%. The phone companies’ schemes actually ended in July, but string of must-see films released in Summer and early Fall, including “The Host” and “Tazza: The High Rollers,” may have masked the effect. In thinner November admissions normally rise after national college entrance exams are finished. This year they took an 11% dip according to Max Movie, a specialist portal that also sells tickets online.

[Source: Variety]

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