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| People in masks pass movie posters at a theater in Seoul on Feb. 11. Korea Times file |
Shortened summer break, Olympics cast shadow on Chungmuro
By Park Ji-won
Director Woo Min-ho's "The Man Standing Next" was unstoppable at the local box office.
After premiering on Jan. 22, rosy prospects for the movie dominated.
During four days of the Lunar New Year Holidays from Jan. 24 to 27, the movie, which fictionalizes the death of President Park Chung-hee ― who was assassinated by his security chief on Oct. 26, 1979 ― traces the spy agency chief's whereabouts for 40 days before the tragic day. The movie has attracted 2.8 million viewers.
It appeared just a matter of time before the thriller joined the 10-million club.
But such optimism crashed abruptly in early February when the movie, like many others in cinemas at the time, was hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. Since then, moviegoers have deserted theaters, wreaking havoc on filmmakers, investors and distributors.
"The Man Standing Next" strove to hang in there but distributors eventually gave in. It disappeared from theaters while failing to reach its break-even point of 5 million tickets.
Several blockbuster movies had the same fate. And movies that were to be screened in spring put their schedules back.
People in the film industry are anxiously awaiting the end of the virus outbreak.
Will Chungmuro, Korea's Hollywood, be better off when and if the virus goes? Considering what's next, it is fair to say hard days for movies may continue until summer at the earliest.
The shortened summer break and the Tokyo Olympics add pressure on the film industry as a sharp drop in ticket sales is inevitable.
Since local governments and companies are encouraging workers to stay home to limit the impact of the infectious disease, the situation has led to a surge in demand for online-based entertainment content, especially streaming services like Netflix, Watcha and Wavve. The effect on movie theaters has been huge, with customer numbers decreasing daily.
According to the latest data from the Korean Film Council, only 230,752 people went to movie theaters last weekend, the lowest since 2011. On the previous weekend, from Feb. 29 to March 1, 286,396 people went to the movies.
The opening of over 50 films scheduled for February and March has been delayed due to the virus. That includes the black-and-white version of "Parasite," "Time to Hunt," "No Time to Die," "The Informer" and "Mulan."
The movies are expected to be released in May and July, but could be further delayed depending on the spread of the virus.
The film industry also is worried that it might not have a chance to start promoting the movies, leading to fewer customers during the summer break ― which is one of the most important times for the movie industry.
Normally, film distributers start promotions several months before the release of new movies and production starts about a year earlier. However, for now, most have not decided when to release their new movies.
CJ ENM was originally planning to release "Seobok," starring Gong Yoo and Park Bo Gum, in July and musical film "Hero," starring Jung Sung-wha and Kim Go-eun, in August. But the plan has been suspended. Earlier, it decided to run other films such as "Dambo," starring Kim Yun-jin, in April and "Dogul," starring Lee Je-hoon, in May. But the schedule can be adjusted depending on the situation, according to officials from the distributor.
"Summer breaks and holidays are among the key promotion periods throughout the year," an industry insider said. "But as schools delay the beginning of new semesters due to mass infections from the coronavirus, and thus have shorter breaks than average years, movie theaters may not have the ticket sales as planned.
"It is difficult for low-cost movies compared to blockbusters to find the right timing to make their movies to survive."
The Tokyo Olympics in July and August also may take customers away from theaters.
According to market insiders, the number of moviegoers fell when the Olympic Games were held in neighboring countries China and Russia.
Analyst Kim Hyung-oh told Yonhap that there were 10 million moviegoers when the Beijing Olympics were held between Aug. 8 and 24, 2008, down 1 million from 2007.
When the 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Sochi, Russia, the number of moviegoers decreased by about 3 million.
