[Korean Film News] Summer Looks Bleak for Local Film Industry

An article published today in the online version of the Korea Herald warns that the Korean film industry faces a serious crisis as a slew of Hollywood blockbusters is poised to hit local screens this summer. After a period of solid growth, the local film industry has seen the share of Korean films plummet and the number of new projects is on the decline. "Spider-Man 3", released Tuesday in a whopping 617 theatres around the nation, sold 502,000 tickets on opening day alone. By way of comparison, "The Host", Korea's biggest hit, was released in 620 theatres last year. Whether Spidey can sustain this momentum remains to be seen -- in any case, don't expect it to outperform the mutant tadpole. Other Hollywood productions slated for release in coming months, including "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End", threaten to overshadow mostly small-budget local films this summer. In March, the share of Korean films nosedived to 21.6 percent in the metropolitan Seoul area, down from 45.8 percent a month earlier, the worst performance since December 2004 when Korean films eked out a miserable 16.9 percent. Quarterly figures for January-to-March of this year, when Korean films captured a 48 percent share, are down from 72.5 percent in 2006. American movies, meanwhile, increased their share to 70.5 percent, staging a sharp recovery in the domestic market. This is a dramatic turnaround for Hollywood, given that American films struggled to maintain even a 30 percent share last year. The reason for the steep downturn? According to a survey by SBS radio, the recent decline of Korean movies at the box office is largely due to deteriorating quality. About 44 percent of respondents in the survey cited the lower quality of local films, while 23 percent blamed the slump on the reduced screen quota. A recovery just around the corner is unlikely given the drastic reduction in film productions this year -- expected to be down around 30 percent from last year's 108. Except for "200-Pound Beauty," there was no major hit Korean film this year, while a growing number of Hollywood movies sell more tickets than expected, regaining their combined market share they lost to Korean rivals in past years.

[Source: The Korea Herald]