CGV, Lotte Cinema to screen Ron Howard's 'Hillbilly Elegy' ahead of Netflix release

The official poster for Ron Howard's Netflix flim "Hillbilly Elegy." [NETFLIX]

Two major local multiplex chains CGV and Lotte Cinema will screen filmmaker Ron Howard's film "Hillbilly Elegy" starting Wednesday, two weeks before the film becomes available on Netfix on Nov. 24, Netflix announced on Tuesday.

It is the first time in three years that the two are screening Netflix movies since controversy arose over the simultaneous screening of director Bong Joon-ho's Netflix film "Okja” (2017).

After Netflix announced it would release "Okja" at the same time as the three major multiplexes — CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox — the companies refused to screen the movie, claiming it is customary for a film to be screened exclusively at theaters for two to three weeks. As a result, Bong’s film was only screened in small, private theaters.

In the three years since, the online movie-streaming market has experienced massive growth, especially due to the Covid-19 outbreak which has discouraged customers from visiting theaters.

"We couldn’t accept a simultaneous online screening nor a holdback period that is shorter than 10 days," Lotte Cinema said. "But we are satisfied with a two-week holdback period to screen the film before it is released online."

Meanwhile, multiplex chain Megabox has been screening Netflix films since last year, starting with director David Michod’s “The King” (2019), followed by director Noah Baumbach’s "Marriage Story" (2019) and director Martin Scorsese’s "The Irish Man" (2019).

BY KIM YEON-AH [kim.yeonah@joongang.co.kr]