'Cinema sales expected to fall 70 percent this year'

Seen above is an empty cinema foyer in Seoul, April 22. / Yonhap

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea's film industry is facing billions of won in losses as theater chains are struggling with dwindling audiences and film productions are being pushed back.

The film industry had been showing signs of recovering with the subsiding of the virus and eased social distancing rules starting the fourth week of April. However, a jump in the number of new virus cases that spread through visitors to a number of nightclubs during a six-day holiday from April 30 to May 5 has sparked fear of a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

Major releases of local films, including “The Fortress” and “Call,” have been postponed to the second half of this year, and for now, movie theaters are heavily relying on smaller films and re-releases.

In its survey of 82 film projects that have suffered losses from the coronavirus outbreak, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) said their total amount of loss (January-April) was estimated to be 21.4 billion won ($17.4 million).

Of them, 51 percent of respondents (42 film projects) said they either postponed or halted productions. As a result, 227 cinema workers were placed on unpaid leave while 186 staff were laid off.

If the number of moviegoers nationwide gradually increases from May to run at 80 percent of 2019 levels, annual ticket sales are expected to reach 727.3 billion won, down 62 percent from 1.2 trillion won last year.

On the other hand, if movie theaters remain stagnant and run at 50 percent of 2019 levels, it is estimated that annual ticket sales will be around 516.7 billion won.

Badly affected cinema sales due to the pandemic shutdown will likely leave many unemployed.

The KOFIC reported that it will likely result in the loss of 20,000 jobs held by 30,878 members.

“The COVID-19 aftermath is clearly different from that of 2009 H1N1 epidemic and 2015 MERS outbreak. The weekend box office figures remained between 470,000 and 630,000 even when the H1N1 virus spread across the nation. At the time of MERS, ticket sales recovered only 10 days after the country reported its first death,” KOFIC said in a report.

It is expected that the recovery of the film industry will lag behind that of other economy sectors as it takes up to two years to complete a production on average.

“The film industry will likely see losses going into 2021 and 2022 as film production and releases are delayed,” a KOFIC official said. “Social distancing inside of movie theaters will continue.”