According to data from the Korean Film Council, the total number of moviegoers in Korea last August was 11.8 million, down 2.8 million from last August. This is also a decrease of 250,000 compared to July this year.
According to the Korea Times, cinemas typically see more moviegoers in August than in July, but this year they have been quite sluggish. The reason for this decline is that cinemas in this country are lacking attractive films to attract large audiences.
Korean newspapers said that August's revenue at Korean theaters would have been even worse if it weren't for the comedy "Pilot" starring Jo Jung Suk . The film was released on July 31 in Korea and attracted more than 4.5 million viewers.
In Vietnam, the film was released on August 30 - at the same time as two Vietnamese films "Getting Rich with Ghosts" (starring Meritorious Artist Hoai Linh, Tuan Tran, Diep Bao Ngoc) and "Hai Muoi" (starring Quyen Linh, People's Artist Hong Van, Huynh Bao Ngoc), so its revenue was somewhat lower - reaching nearly 6.9 billion VND (as of the evening of September 7).
Two other notable films at the Korean box office in August were "Alien: Romulus" and "Land of Happiness."
Of which, "Alien: Romulus" had the highest audience among the films released in the month, but still only attracted 1.63 million viewers.
"Land of Happiness" starring Jo Jung Suk and the late actor Lee Sun Kyun failed to meet revenue expectations, attracting only 690,000 views.
According to Korean newspapers, the expectation of distributors and theaters that mid-range films can together create a large market like blockbusters can is completely wrong. The reason is that what audiences need at the moment are attractive films that bring a unique experience when watching in theaters.
This is also the reason why the concept of "summer peak season" is gradually becoming meaningless in Korea.
Accordingly, over the past 3 years, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the audience's movie viewing trends have changed, making the difference between peak and low seasons in this country unclear, summer is becoming like other times.
" Korean cinemas have been hit the hardest by the combined negative impact of COVID-19 and streaming services, making it difficult for the market to recover. We need to find a breakthrough by diversifying ticket prices based on date, time and type of film," said film critic Oh Dong-jin.
