Stream K-Dramas at OnDemandKorea

Korean Films Recover at the Box Office

Korean cinema is showing signs of recovery in the domestic market after a slow first half of 2007. Korea's leading cinema chain CGV announced that last month August recorded the highest monthly cinema attendance number, mainly because of the Korean films "May 18" and "D-War". In August, 21.9 million people attended the cinema, edging out January 2006's 21.4 million viewers.

Korean films dominated with a 79.6% box office share. Only last year's October topped that percentage when Korean films were responsible for more than 86% of the domestic box office; according to CGV.

At the moment, halfway September, Korean films surpassed a 49% market share, slightly up from 2007's first half year performance of 47.7%; but low compared to CGV's reported 64.7% over 2006, a record year. Korean films reached a low point in March this year when Korean films accounted for only 21.6%.

With the major Korean holiday Chuseok coming up, prominent filmmakers' titles are lined-up and Chuseok is traditionally a big boost for Korean films at the box office. Films scheduled around Chuseok include Lee Joon-ik's "The Happy Life" and Kwak Gyeong-taek's "a LOVE". Heo Jin-ho's "Happiness", starring Lim Soo-jung and Hwang Jung-min; and Lee Myung-se's "M", featuring Gang Dong-won, are among the promising films later this year.


Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)

Advertisement

❎ Try Ad-free