Korea box office: Admissions down, but gross up

In South Korea, foreign films had their best first half year on record with 54.97m admissions, up 28% from the same period in 2013, according to a new report from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Foreign films took 57% market share while local films took 43% with 41.54 million admissions - down 25.2% year-on-year.

Hollywood hits like Disney animation Frozen, which went over the landmark 10m admissions record in Korea, as well as Edge Of Tomorrow, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past boosted foreign film performance in the first half of this year. (See Top 10 list below.)

This period saw 497 releases, up 103 films (26.1%) year-on-year. Local films had 94 releases, up 25 films (36.2%) year-on-year. 78 more foreign films were released in this year’s first half than last year’s, making the total 403, a 24% increase.

Admissions down but net sales up

Total admissions went down to 9.65m (compared to 9.85m in 2013’s first six months) while box office gross went up $17.38m (KW17.6bn) to $732.99m (KW741.8bn).

KOFIC attributes this to 3D and 4D ticket sales which jumped $18.66m to $57.68m year-on-year, as well as a rise in ticket prices. In 2013, the average ticket cost KW7,351 ($7.26) while in 2014 it costs KW7,687 ($7.59).

In this first half year, local films took KW310.3bn ($306.5m), down KW89.1bn ($88m) year-on-year. Foreign films took KW431.5bn ($426.2m), up KW106.7bn ($105.4m) year-on-year.

Distributors

Leading with 21.9% of total admissions in the first half year, Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea distributed 12 films including Frozen, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

In second place, CJ E&M took 21.8% of total admissions with 18 films including local comedy Miss Granny and Cannes title The Target, as well as Transformers: Age Of Extinction.

Next Entertainment World (N.E.W.) followed with 12.5% of admissions, distributing 11 films including Song Kang-ho-starrer The Attorney and Liam Neeson thriller Non-Stop.

Lotte Entertainment distributed 20 films including historical drama The Fatal Encounter and took 11.7% while Warner Brothers Korea took 7.4% with six films including Edge Of Tomorrow and 300: Rise Of An Empire.

Box office top 10 in first half of 2014

(title/country/distributor/gross/admissions)

1. Frozen (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea: KW82.3bn, 10.28m

2. Miss Granny (Korea) CJ E&M: KW62.5bn, 8.63m

3. The Attorney (Korea) Next Entertainment World (N.E.W.): KW41.9bn, 5.69m

4. Edge Of Tomorrow (US) Warner Brothers Korea: KW36.3bn, 4.39m

5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea: KW34.8bn, 4.17m

6. X-Men: Days of Future Past (US) 20th Century Fox Korea: KW34.6bn, 4.39m

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea: KW31.7bn, 3.96m

8. The Fatal Encounter (Korea) Lotte Entertainment: KW29.9bn, 3.85m

9. A Hard Day (Korea) Showbox/Mediaplex: KW24.5bn, 3.13m

10. The Target (Korea) CJ E&M: KW22.3bn, 2.84m

*$1=KW1,012