South Korean film industry surpasses 100 million in theaters 4th year in a row

November 30, 2015
People purchase tickets inside a Seoul theater Monday. (Yonhap)

People purchase tickets inside a Seoul theater Monday. (Yonhap)

It’s a good time to be South Korea’s film industry.

As of Monday, Korean films had drawn 100.62 million people to its theaters this year, surpassing 100 million for the fourth year in a row, according to the Korean Film Council.

South Korea has a population of about 50 million, meaning on average, each person saw two home-grown films in theaters this year.

In the second half of the year, “Assassination” and “Veteran” each attracted more than 10 million viewers. “Sado,” “The Priests” and “Inside Men,” all box office hits, contributed to Chungmuro’s ever-growing size.

The industry saw 784.5 billion won in revenue, or about $676 million, from a total of 229 films released this year. Domestic pics took 50.8 percent of total revenue, according to Yonhap.

With foreign films included, South Korean theaters drew in nearly 200 million people, at 198 million. It surpassed 200 million in both 2013 and in 2014.