S. Korean box office revenue plunges in October

November 6, 2014
Since "Roaring Currents" set a domestic box office record earlier in 2014, South Korean box office revenue has been significantly declining.(Yonhap)

Since “Roaring Currents” set a domestic box office record earlier in 2014, South Korean box office revenue has been significantly declining.(Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korea’s cinema ticket revenues and the number of moviegoers fell drastically last month from a year ago largely due to the weakness of Korean films, a market tracker said Thursday.

Ticket revenue in the domestic movie market fell by 4.2 billion won (US$3.8 million) to 95.4 billion won while attendance in theaters dropped by 990,000 to 12.5 million people, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) said in a monthly box-office report.

The October box-office figures failed to reach the 17.6 million people and 135.6 billion won recorded by the single Korean film “Roaring Currents” last summer.

The council attributed the slump to the commercial failure of homegrown films that drew 2.57 million less people than a year ago.

On the contrary, foreign films drew 1.58 million more viewers, earning 10.2 billion won more, according to the report.