Korean Box Office up 14%

Even with a 3.9% dip in admissions, the South Korean box office increased 14.6% in monetary terms from this time last year.  Results taken from January the 1st to June 30 show 69.44 million tickets sold, bringing in 54.7 billion Korean won (U.S $44.72 million).  Much of this attributed to the increase in ticket sales that took place last year seeing the average price of a ticket rise by about 1000 won (82 cents) to an average of 6,600 won ($5.39) a ticket.

In terms of percentage, local films did not fare so well this year falling 4.9% at the box office to 40% while foreign films were at 60%. As for the share within foreign films, the U.S remains on top with 56%, Chinese films took in 1.4%, European films 1.9% and Japanese films, which have traditionally done relatively well compared to other foreign films only scored 0.8%. 

As well as the increase in ticket prices much of the overall increase at the box office has been attributed to the rise of 3D films.  The half yearly report spans the time that 3D sci fi epic Avatar invaded the country's theatres becoming Korea’s biggest selling film of all time.   Other films such as Alice in Wonderland and How to Train your Dragon were also released in 3D.  Such success not only increases patronage at the country’s cinemas but increases the ticket price that consumers are willing to pay.