K-actor Ryu Jun Yeol just won the Best Actor Award at the 2023 Baeksang Awards in the film side for sageuk thriller The Night Owl so it’s rather fitting that the movie is being discussed as the last “hit” domestic film in Chungmuro for the last 6 months. The Night Owl sold 3.23M tickets and made a profit so is considered a hit but since then none of the movies have come close to either those ticket sales or even breaking even. The closest is The Point Men with 1.72M tickets sold and Dream with 950K. The issue is that there are movies with good reviews such as Rebound and the K-version of Soulmate but no movie is generating the type of buzz that gets audiences into theaters more than usual. But there are big budget movies on the horizon especially with summer season coming so hopefully it will turn things around.
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Streaming services like Netflix is destroying the profits of the movies in theaters. I can’t even recall the last time I went into a movie theater.
i thought Dream is considered a hit? or was it media play after all?
Probably just mediaplay. They were reporting that it was a hit barely days after it’s first showing. Ppl will always check movies out in the early days and the numbers dwindle after that. The plot doesnt sound overly interesting anyway. Point men as well, most ppl found it boring and not as action oriented as it was sold as.
Watched night owl and loved it. Ryu jun yeol usually picks really good movies and I’ve liked everything he’s been in.
With korean movies theres no incentive to go watch it at a theatre actually. Ppl will just wait for it to be streamed online
Koreans had to wear a mask in public places for a long time too. Maybe they will be more motivated to go to theaters without the restrictions.
For Korean films, what’s the point of going to the theater when the movies will likely be on VOD a month after release? Streaming platforms is killing Korean cinema.