Visitors in the first quarter, two -thirds of the previous year… “Netflix instead of the theater”
The breakthrough is a box office, but no new production… “This is ruined”
The crisis in the domestic theater industry is increasing due to the change in content consumption trends that the film is seen as an online video service (OTT) rather than a theater.
It is serious that the domestic industry’s second and third -largest companies are not doing business improvement, but merger with survival. The fact that the breakthrough is not visible, such as the production of new films is also interrupted, adds to the industry concern.
According to the Korea Film Promotion Committee on the 11th, the number of domestic box office visitors in the first quarter of this year was 20.82 million. It was reduced to two -thirds of the same period last year (30.91 million). In the first quarter, the total movie theater sales also fell 33.6%(101.4 billion won) year -on -year to W2bn.
The biggest factor is that the content consumption method is changing, such as watching movies with OTTs such as Netflix instead of a movie theater. Last year, the number of theater audiences (123.13 million) was half of 2019 (226.68 million) before Corona 19. Ticket prices after Corona 19 also stopped visitors.
In particular, last year, there were a lot of ’10 million’ successes such as ‘Temple’ and ‘Crime City 4’, but this year’s low performance was also influenced. Only 3 million people in Mickey 17, the most popular film released this year.
Eventually, he accepted a terrible level of score in the first quarter earnings. Megabox recorded operating losses of W10.3bn in the first quarter, and the deficit increased 635% from the same period last year (-1.4 billion won). The industry’s No. 1 CJ CGV also recorded operating losses of W31bn in the first quarter, which is more than doubled from the same period last year (-14.7 billion won).
Lotte Cinema and Megabox, which were second and third in the industry, chose to merge on the 8th. In the situation where the deficit accumulates every quarter, it was forced to respond by merger to reduce overlapping investment and competition costs rather than being destroyed.
The biggest problem still remains. The industry is a breakthrough that attracts the audience to the movie theater, and the Korean film industry is not a structure that can be produced.
Since Corona 19 in 2019, the film industry itself has changed significantly. At that time, the number of new works decreased due to the deterioration of profitability of the cinema, and eventually the number of visitors was reduced. This again brought a vicious cycle of value chain that leads to the deterioration of profitability and reduction in the film industry.
In fact, the new release film, which was 45 in 2019, was reduced to 37 in 2024, and this year, it is expected to be half the level of about 20 films. Considering the cycle that takes several years to screen the theater after the start of the film production, Corona 19 is currently holding the theater ankle.
In addition, the lack of support for the ‘Holdback’ discussion, which is suspended during the period of the theater screening, is considered to be a factor in the prolonged market. If you wait a little bit, you can see the release movie on the OTT, so you don’t feel the need to go to the movie theater.
An official of the industry said, “Until this year, we have been stuck with a ‘warehouse movie’ that has been taken and solved.
(Seoul = News1)
