[HanCinema's News] 2019 August Box Office Marks Decline Compared to Last Year
By William Schwartz | Published on
According to a report released by the Korean Film Council there were a total of eighteen million admissions at the domestic South Korean box office this summer. This marks the first time in seven years that August at the South Korean box office failed to bring in more than twenty million viewers.
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The main obvious explanation for this is the lack of a ten million admissions breaking movie this year. "Exit - Movie" came the closest with over nine million admissions. Among the other three major ten million admission hopes for the season, "The King's Letters" was under one million, "The Divine Fury" was under two million, and "The Battle: Roar to Victory" was under five million.
Foreign movies performed equally poorly under these circumstances, so the overall yearly figures, which have been strong for South Korean films compared to imports, remain strong. Given the banner year South Korean films have had to date, the most likely explanation for the slump is a lack of mass market movies to interest a wide audience. This is somewhat surprising, as the genre slate of movies for August was quite broad, with historical, supernatural, disaster, and war movies all represented.
Written by William Schwartz
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Portland metropolitan area. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net, and is open to requests for content in future articles.