Market Share for Korean Films Drops to 30.5% for May 2013
Jun 07, 2013
Writerby JANG Sung-ran
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KOFIC Releases Statistics on Korean Film Industry for May 2013
The market share for Korean cinema has dropped to 30.5% for May continuing on from the decreasing trend of April. This is due to the series of new Hollywood blockbusters. According to the May statistics released by the Korean Film Council, the sales total and the number of moviegoers for Korean films of May was 30.5 billion won and 4.34 million viewers respectively, seeing a drop of 1.6 billion won (5.0%) and 0.14 million people (3.1%) respectively. The market share for Korean films also dropped to 30.5%, seeing a record low since December of 2009 (28.9%). The number of moviegoers going to see films was also the lowest since June of 2011 (4.17 million), recording a new low for the first time in two years.
As May is the month of the family in Korea, many expected the cinemas here to bustle with people but the overall number of moviegoers and sales at the box office went down compared to this time last year by 1.76 million (11.0%) and 18.6 billion won (15.0%). As for Korean films, compared to May last year, the drop was 2.41 million (35.7%) meaning that the level of decrease was much higher. It was the slowest May for Korean films since May 2008.
The reason for this lackluster performance for Korean films is deemed to be the absence of competitive Korean content at cinemas. In May last year, All About My Wife, which drew in 4.6 million admissions, was at theaters competing with the likes of The Avengers and Men in Black 3 but this May, only Montage managed to bring in 1.68 million, attesting to a definite lack of good quality Korean fare.
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