Movie theater attendance drops 45 pct in March amid lack of hits

South Korean movie theaters experienced a sharp decline in attendance and revenue in March, as the lack of a major hit resulted in a failure to draw crowds, industry data showed Thursday.

According to the Korean Film Council, local cinemas sold 6.44 million tickets in March, down 45 percent, or 5.26 million tickets, from the previous month.

Their revenue also plunged 46.8 percent to 62 billion won (US$38.5 million), down 54.6 billion won from February.

The council cited the absence of a box-office hit comparable to last year’s supernatural thriller “Exhuma,” which drew more than 10 million viewers, as a key factor behind the downturn.

While “Mickey 17,” a Hollywood film directed by acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, became the first release of the year to surpass 3 million admissions, its performance was seen as underwhelming compared to Bong’s previous film “Parasite,” which was a critical and commercial success.

With no major box office driver, the industry also posted weak results for the first quarter of this year. Total admissions from January to March dropped by 32.6 percent to 20.82 million, while revenue declined 33.6 percent to 200.4 billion won.

“Mickey 17″ ranked as the top-performing film in the first quarter with 3.01 million viewers. It was followed by the Korean comedy “Hitman 2″ (2.54 million viewers), released during the Lunar New Year holiday, and the local sports drama, “The Match,” which drew 2.15 million viewers to rank third.