Less than 60 million headed to the cinema in 2020, a 73.7% drop from 2019

A multiplex in Seoul in late 2020, relatively empty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. [YONHAP]

Fewer than 60 million people visited Korean movie theaters in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by the Korean Film Council on Friday.

The council counted a total of 59.52 million moviegoers in 2020, a 73.7% drop from 2019 and the lowest number since 2004 when the Korean Box Office Information System was introduced. An annual average of 100 million visited movie theaters between 2004 and 2012, and that number remained above 200 million between 2013 and 2019.

The average Korean watched four movies at cinemas throughout the 2010s, but that number dropped to 1.15 in 2020.

Movie revenue also decreased by 73.3% to 510.4 billion won ($460 million), which is the lowest since 2005.

Korean film “The Man Standing Next” (2020) topped the box office last year, attracting an audience of 4.75 million, followed by “Deliver Us from Evil” (2020) watched in theaters by 4.36 million.

No movie managed to garner 10 million theater-goers or more in 2020, an indicator of a film’s commercial success in Korea, making 2020 the first year since 2012 without a so-called “10 million film.”

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]