'Exhuma’ drives sales record for domestic film tickets in March

Screens advertise occult horror film ″Exhuma″ in a movie theater in Seoul. [NEWS1]

Korean films saw the highest ticket sales figure for the month of March this year upon increased ticket prices and the record-breaking popularity of occult blockbuster "Exhuma" that continues to draw moviegoers.

Homegrown movies sold a total of 80.3 billion won ($59.3 million) worth of tickets at the local box office in March, according to the Korean Film Council (kofic) on Tuesday, a 274.1 percent on-year increase and the highest ticket sales total for local films recorded for the month.

Sales even surpassed pre-Covid-19 levels. A total of 116.6 billion won in ticket sales for both local and overseas films was made in March this year, 45.7 percent higher than the average ticket sales for March from 2017 to 2019, which was 114.3 billion won.

The number of moviegoers has still remained lower than pre-pandemic levels, with 11.7 million tickets sold in March this year, 84.9 percent of the average of 13.78 million people in the same month before the pandemic era.

However, the price of theater tickets has increased by 55.5 percent during the same period. A regular ticket on weekdays in Korea's three largest theaters — CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox — cost 9,000 won in 2017. It rose to 14,000 won by April 2022 and has stayed at 14,000 won since then.

The success of Korean movie ticket sales is specifically attributed to the gains from “Exhuma.”

“March ticket sales were hugely boosted by the mega hit ‘Exhuma’ to reach the average sales around pre-pandemic level,” Kofic said in its Tuesday report. “This year’s sales is the second largest total for the month of March after March 2019.”

“Exhuma” premiered on Feb. 22. The film recorded 70.7 billion won in ticket sales and was seen by 7.26 million people in March at local theaters. It accounted for 60.7 percent of all ticket sales for the month and sits at No. 1 as of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, foreign films saw a decrease in both ticket sales and viewers.

In March, a total of 36.3 billion won in tickets were bought for foreign films, a 38.0 percent on-year decrease and equivalent to 56.9 percent of the average pre-pandemic March sales.

A total of 3.41 million people watched foreign films in March, falling 39.1 percent on year and down 44.9 percent from the pre-pandemic average.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]