Daily box-office numbers hit lowest number since March 2004

Daily box-office sales fell below 40,000 on Monday, the lowest since March 2004.

According to Korean Film Council data, approximately 36,000 people visited movie theaters in Korea on Monday.

From March 1 to 16, nearly 1.2 million tickets were sold. During the same period in 2019, 8.1 million admissions were sold.

Box-office rankings have lost all meaning due to such scarce number of visitors. The current box office No. 1, “The Invisible Man,” only drew 8,089 people in 529 screens on Monday. The rest of the top five, “Dark Waters,” “1917,” “Honest Candidate” and “Beasts Clawing at Straws,” each drew between 2,000 to 5,000 total people for the day.

Although some new films will soon be released in theaters, including the Academy Award-winning “Judy” on March 25, insiders predict that it’s going to be a while before the box-office sales recover.

“I don’t know how long this recession will continue,” one insider said. “People may come to the theaters again if something extremely popular, like a Marvel film, is released.”

By Lee Jae-lim