Theaters enjoy revenue increase despite falling ticket sales

Ticket sales for movies fell slightly last year, compared to the previous year. According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), a total of 216 million movie tickets had been sold all during last year, a 1.6 percent drop from that of the previous year.

Korean movies were hit harder with a decrease of 3.3 percent, whereas ticket sales of foreign movies fell 1.6 percent.

Investors and producers were grappling with profit losses, but theaters gained.

The sales revenue for theaters in 2017 stood 1.75 trillion won. Last year the figure slightly rose to 1.81 trillion. This year’s figure has increased further and as of September sales revenue for theaters marked 1.4 trillion won, surpassing the level around this time last year.

Theaters benefit from the hike of ticket prices and an increase in “side income” — profit from snacks and beverages.

Rep. Kim Soo-min of the Bareunmirae Party said theaters gaining profit amid falling ticket sales is abnormal. She claimed theaters’ revenue increase came at the expense of cinemagoers’ expenditure. “If two people watch a movie together with some popcorn and a beverage, they should pay at least 30,000 won to 40,000 won, considering each person should pay 10,000 won for a movie ticket,” she said in a press release.

She blamed the major theater chains — CJ, CGV, Lotte and Megabox — for their alleged “self-serving” business tactics, saying rising movie ticket prices had encouraged people to opt for Netflix or other alternatives to watch movies. This in turn will cause a further downturn in Korean cinema, she warned.