SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s filmmaking industry contracted for a second straight year in 2021 due mainly to the yearslong COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. The aggregated revenues of the local film market, which includes domestic sales of movie tickets, and online releases and exports, reached 1.02 trillion won (US$855 million) [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Homegrown summer blockbusters like the zombie apocalypse film “Peninsula” helped South Korean movies see their combined admissions jump nearly 70 percent in July from a month earlier, data showed Thursday. The number of moviegoers who watched South Korean films reached 4.69 million last month, up 68.4 percent from 2.78 [...]
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — In the aftermath of a precipitous drop in customers due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, movie theaters are coming up with innovative ways to generate revenue. Some theaters are now allowing customers to rent the whole venue to overcome the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. CJ CGV, South Korea’s [...]
SEOUL, March 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean movie theater chains are screening past blockbusters and classics as the spreading coronavirus has been keeping people from local cinemas. The 2004 fantasy film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” made a return to the South Korean silver screen in 4DX on Feb. 26. The 4DX [...]
SEOUL, March 4 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean state media on Wednesday slammed South Korean movies and dramas for engaging in “anti-republic” propaganda with fakes and fabrication about the communist state. Uriminzokkiri did not specify its targets for criticism, but they might include such recent hits as TV drama “Crash Landing On You” and blockbuster [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government’s recent announcement of a plan to adopt an anti-monopoly regulation in the local cinema market has rekindled debate over the issue among local cineastes. Last week, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it is seeking to put a ceiling on the number of [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Following formal approval by the government, feature films produced in North Korea will be screened at the 22nd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) to be held for ten days starting tomorrow. Festival organizers included the special screening of nine North Korean films following the conciliatory mood of the [...]
SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Director Joon-ho Bong’s newest movie, “Okja”, has been unveiled in Korea, but there are disputes regarding the movie’s screening at some of the country’s largest theater chains. Three major multiplexes – CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox – made it clear that they will not screen “Okja” as part of a [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) – “Okja,” South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to smash-hit “Snowpiercer,” will be released in Korean theaters on June 29 for an open run, its American investor and local distributor said on Monday. “Okja will be available on Netflix in 190 countries on June 28 in the U.S., but actually [...]
SEOUL, April 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Action films are South Korea’s favorite genre, a nationwide survey showed Saturday. According to the 2016 consumer report released by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), which surveyed 2,089 people aged between 15 and 59, 26.2 percent of the moviegoers picked action films as their favorite genre. Sci-Fi-adventure-fantasy films were [...]