Cinema Attendance Hits All-Time High This Year

Published on 2015/12/29 | Source

/Yonhap

Cinema attendance in Korea is expected to hit a record high this year, already surpassing last year's record of 215.06 million viewers on Monday.

The figure has been on the rise for three years in a row, after it exceeded 200 million for the first time in 2013. In 2005, 123 million moviegoers visited theaters.

With an increasing number of films available, going to movie theaters has become a habitual activity.

Domestic films fared better than foreign films this year, taking up 52 percent of the market share. Among the total 1,186 films released this year, "Ode to My Father", "Assassination" and "Veteran" attracted over 10 million viewers.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has been a worldwide hit, amassing US$1 billion in just 12 days since the release, but it remains in second place in the box office here after the Korean film "The Himalayas" during this year's Christmas week (US$1=W1,167).

"Avengers: Age of Ultron", "Inside Men", "The Throne", "Kingsman: The Secret Service", "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" and "Northern Limit Line" all lured over six million spectators each.

Despite all the success, there were many flops as well, in addition to the lack of indie films, which often have difficulty finding distributers and screens.