film industry-Feb tally

▲ Posters for Korean supernatural thriller "Exhuma" are seen at a Seoul theater in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)

film industry-Feb tally

Cinema admissions surge last month thanks to various hits

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean movie theaters saw a resurgence in attendance and ticket sales last month, fueled by a wave of successful films across various genres, a report showed Tuesday.

According to the Korean Film Council's (KOFIC) monthly report on the Korean film industry, a total of 11.46 million people visited theaters in February, a significant 78.4 percent jump from the same month last year.

This figure accounts for 64.8 percent of 17.67 million recorded in 2017-19 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the film industry.

Revenue also climbed 60.1 percent on-year to 14.58 million won (US$10,900), which represents 75.8 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.

KOFIC attributed the positive trend to the commercial success of diverse films, including the supernatural thriller "Exhuma," the fantasy flick "Wonka," the comedy-drama "Citizen of a Kind" and the political documentary "The Birth of Korea."

Korean films performed particularly well, with "Exhuma" amassing 3.7 million viewers within eight days of its release on Feb. 22 and "Citizen of a Kind" seen by 1.04 million in the same month.

The industry garnered a total of 6.97 million admissions, an increase of 5.69 million from a year ago. Combined sales rose 52.7 billion won to 66.2 billion won.

Homegrown films accounted for 59.8 percent of theater sales and 60.8 percent of admissions, surpassing foreign films for the first time in four years since 2020.

Foreign flicks sold 4.49 million tickets, a decrease of 660,000 from a year ago. They grossed 44.4 billion won, down 11.2 billion won.

While "Wonka" was a box-office success, attracting 2.94 million viewers and generating 28.6 billion won in revenue, there were no other major hits in February. As a result, both the number of moviegoers and the box office revenue for foreign films decreased compared with the same month last year, when the animated Japanese film "The First Slam Dunk" and Marvel's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" were released, according to KOFIC.

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