The South Korean film industry is firming up its pandemic recovery, logging monthly sales comparable to pre-COVID-19 times for a third straight month in July.
According to data released by the Korean Film Council on Wednesday, the industry’s total sales stood at 170-point-four trillion won in July, up a whopping 149-point-four percent from a year earlier. The figure represents a seven-point-four percent decline from the same month of 2019.
Breaking it down by audience market share, foreign movies accounted for 61 percent, on the back of box-office hits such as the top-grossing Hollywood action blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick.” Domestic flicks accounted for 39 percent.
It marks the first time in three months that foreign films surpassed domestic pictures by attendance.
Sales of Korean films amounted to 66 billion won last month, the highest on-year figure since 2017, with the number of viewers also reaching the highest for the month of July since 2018.
In the category of independent and art house films, Japanese flicks fared well. Mystery-horror “Cure” ranked first with 222-point-two million won in ticket sales, followed by romantic comedy “It’s a Summer Film!” that earned 191-point-six million won.
Source: KBS World Radio