High ticket prices are hurting Korean movie industry, says filmmaker advocacy group

Korean filmmakers urged theater giant CGV to take measures to address high ticket prices at local cinemas as the company holds its "Culture Week" event.

Film Industry Solidarity, a filmmaker advocacy group, holds a press conference in Jongno District, central Seoul on July 4. [FILM INDUSTRY SOLIDARITY]

Korean filmmakers urged theater giant CGV to take measures to address high ticket prices at local cinemas as the company holds its "Culture Week" event.

"We hope that no unfair infringement of rights occurred to the producers or distributors in connection with CGV’s 'Culture Week' event," Filmmaker's Solidarity, a film industry advocacy group, said Tuesday in a press release. "CGV should be well aware that such events cannot continue without a fundamental agreement with the film industry."

CGV announced last Thursday that it would expand further on its "Culture Day” event, which allowed people to watch movies for 7,000 won ($5.26) — approximately half the usual ticket price — on the last Wednesday afternoon of every month. This expansion, branded as "Culture Week," started on Monday and continues through Thursday.

"It is meaningful, as it marks the first attempt to find a breakthrough in collaboration with producers and distributors to revitalize the film industry," said the theater in a press release at the time of the announcement.

Filmmaker's Solidarity welcomed CGV’s decision to hold “Culture Week,” but pushed for a more fundamental solution, urging “the three major theaters [CGV, Megabox, Lotte Cinema] to engage in forward-thinking discussions on lowering ticket prices, addressing unfair settlement issues and resolving the increasingly severe screen monopoly."

Filmmaker's Solidarity has continuously raised concerns about the theater's decision to increase ticket prices, which it has done three times in the last two years. Standard ticket prices increased from 12,000 won in 2020 to 15,000 in 2022.

Filmmaker's Solidarity filed a complaint against the three major theaters to the Korea Fair Trade Commission on July 4, claiming that "the three major theaters are reducing the share of small distributors, producers and creators through profit squeezing that abuses their dominant market position, with actions such as supporting their affiliates and monopolizing screens."

CGV’s “Culture Week” event gained attention after actor Choi Min-sik's remarks on high ticket prices on Aug. 17. Appearing on MBC's "Questions by Son Seok-hee" (translated), Choi pointed to the increased ticket prices as a cause for the decline in the Korean film industry and expressed his concern.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]