South Korea political crisis causes cinema slump
The political crisis in South Korea is having unintended consequences for the country's cinemas, as customers stay away in droves.
Huge
weekly demonstrations against President Park Geun-hye in Seoul and other major
cities, in which hundreds of thousands have called for her to resign, have also
kept people away from movie theatres, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reports.
Korean
Film Council statistics for November show a $36.3m (£28.8m) drop in box office
takings month-on-month; while more than 17m tickets were sold in October, that
fell to just 8.56m in November, the newspaper says. While November is
traditionally a slower month as studios save their biggest features for the
Christmas holidays, the number of tickets sold is still significantly lower
than the same period in 2015.
Saturday
nights traditionally see the largest numbers of moviegoers in Seoul, but with
over one million thronging the streets every Saturday calling for President
Park's resignation, it's thought that only the keenest customers are braving
the crowds. Ms Park is at the centre of a corruption scandal in which she's
accused of allowing a friend to gain influence for personal gain.
Even
films featuring major Korean stars are suffering at the box office, with actor
Kang Dong-won's latest feature drawing less than half the numbers of his
previous outing, Chosun Ilbo says.
It
seems that South Koreans tend to abandon the cinema at times of national
crisis. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was a similar slump in
takings in the immediate aftermath of the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April
2014, in which 304 people died.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38169942
Review:
South
Korea political crisis causes cinema slump
The political crisis
in South Korea is having unintended consequences for the country cinema.
Largest numbers of moviegoers in Seoul thronging the street every Saturday
calling for President Park resignation. Ms Park is at the centre of a
corruption scandal in which she's accused of allowing a friend to gain
influence for personal gain. Korean film statistic for November show a $36.3 M
drop in a box office, while more than 17M tickets were sold in October. That
fell to just 8.58M in November
