Documentaries, which have been considered non-box office hit materials, have recorded good results this year.
A total of six Korean and foreign documentaries have been released in Korean theaters this year: "Between", "Flight" ("Bi-sang"), Dear Pyeongyang, The White Planet, An Inconvenient Truth and Glastonbury. All of these films except the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth did well at the box office.
The most popular among these documentaries was The White Planet, which opened in 115 theaters nationwide last July, attracting 68,000 viewers nationwide due to the fact that it was an educational documentary and that it opened during summer break.
"Between", a documentary on Korean shamans, gathered 23,000 viewers while Flight, which opened on Dec. 7, has had 20,000 viewers so far.
"Between" was first screened on Sep. 9 in CGV Sangam, Gyeonbyeon, Incheon, and Seomyeon and as it became popular, three other theaters began playing the film. Flight also began with three theaters CGV Sangam, Incheon, and Gyeyang, and has added 6 more theaters since Dec. 14.
"Considering the production costs, it may be too early to say this is a hit", Chae, Yoo-Ri of Emotion Pictures, the production company of Flight ("Bi-sang"), said, "but it is very encouraging that the film is gaining popularity despite the fact that this is a sports documentary, a rare genre and subject matter in the Korean film market".
Other documentaries that opened in only one theater also made unexpected success.
Glastonbury, a musical documentary, has been running on theaters for seven weeks, contrary to the expectation of SPONGE, the company that imported and distributed the film. The company said it would screen it only for a week. Since its opening on Sep. 14 in the 80-seat Sponge House (Apgujeong), tickets had been sold out almost two weeks in advance. From the third week, it moved to Sponge House in Jongro (Cinecore) and was played once a day. Gwangju Theatre also screened it on Oct. 31 as a special screening.
"Unexpectedly, fans of music documentaries must have shown a huge interest in the film", Lee Seung-Hee of Sponge said. "The response was better than what we originally thought but we could not increase the number of screening due to limited theaters available". Gastonbury was seen by a little over 2,000 viewers.
Dear Pyeongyang, which opened in theaters on Nov. 23, is doing well in the box office despite being played only in one theater. It has attracted over 3,200 viewers in a month.
The Source : Koreacontent News Team
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