Korea box office admissions up 11% in 2023 but remains 45% down on pre-pandemic era

South Korea’s box office admissions recorded a rise of 11% in 2023, boosted by two local hits, but saw 44.8% fewer cinemagoers than in pre-Covid 2019.

There was a total of 125.1 million admissions in 2023, according to the Korea Box-office Information System (Kobis), demonstrating steady growth year-on-year.

However, with audiences still not returning to cinemas at pre-pandemic levels, the number is a 44.8% decrease from 2019, which was year before the Covid-19 outbreak but also the all-time highest box office year on record in terms of admissions and gross.

Total box office gross last year went up 8.7% to KW1.261tn ($961m) compared to 2022 when social distancing measures ended in April. 2022 had seen a 98.5% increase on box office gross, although it was still at 60.6% of 2019.

South Korea’s 2023 box office was led by two local films: director Kim Sung-soo’s historical action drama 12.12: The Day; and Don Lee-starring franchise action film The Roundup: No Way Out, which pumped up total admissions with 11.8 million and 10.6 million tickets sold, respectively.

They were not very closely followed by two animated features: Disney’s Elemental with around 7.2 million admissions; and Makoto Shinkai’s fantasy adventure Suzume with around 5.57 million admissions.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan’s drug-smuggling sea divers action film Smugglers, which also screened in Locarno and Toronto, followed with 5.1 million admissions.

Local films took 48.6% of market share, down from 55.7% in 2022. US films took 35% while Japanese films took 14.1%. These were trailed by Chinese and UK films – each with 0.4%.

South Korea box office 2023

• Hong Kong box office in 2023 finishes 25% below pre-pandemic period