Multiplexes rent out theaters to revive dying business

Faced with theater closings and plunging ticket sales due to COVID-19 outbreak, several multiplex chains are holding events to rent out entire theaters for movie screenings. / GettyImagesbank

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Faced with theater closings and plunging ticket sales due to COVID-19 outbreak, several multiplex chains are holding events to rent out entire theaters for movie screenings.

The film industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus and is grappling with a host of problems, including competition with online streaming services, studios delaying release dates and the uncertainty of how long it will take for audiences to return to theaters.

Amid such difficulties, Korea's largest movie theater chain CGV has rolled out an event titled “I Watch Alone ― Rent a Theater and Watch a Movie Alone” in order to bring back moviegoers.

The theatrical rental for a two-hour movie costs 30,000 won ($25) for two people at three CGV branches ― Gangbyeon, Sangbong and Junggae. Up to 10 people can join them for an additional cost of 10,000 won per person.

This is a lot cheaper than normal rental fees of between 1.8 million won to 1.9 million won for reserving a 200-seat-theater.

“We were planning to accept reservations by April 28, but all theaters have been fully reserved,” a CGV official said. “We chose the times that are nearly empty, and in which the reservation rate is between 1 percent and 2 percent.”

Seoul Cinema is running a similar event until next month.

Those who want to apply for a new movie-going experience must share on social media their theater-related fantasies or reasons they want to rent out an entire theater by May 1. The theater will announce winners May 6.

The number of moviegoers in Korea fell to a 16-year low in March due to the COVID-19 crisis.

A total of 1.83 million people went to cinemas last month, plunging 87.5 percent from 14.7 million tallied a year ago, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Total revenue nose-dived 88 percent year-on-year to 15.2 billion won ($12.5 million) in March.

A record low of 310,000 people saw domestic films that month, down 95.1 percent from a year earlier, while foreign films attracted 1.52 million viewers over the same period, down 81.8 percent.

“Only seven domestic films were released in March, fewer than the 14 in January and 10 in February,” KOFIC said.