Weekend movie tickets in South Korea now cost 15,000 won ($10.50), but only about one in 10 moviegoers actually pays that price. Most use early-morning discounts, telecom membership benefits or credit card partnerships to pay less than the listed price.
A total of 97,011,045 movie tickets were recorded in the Korean Box Office Information System from January through September this year, according to data that Rep. Choi Min-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, obtained from the Korean Film Council on the 13th.
Of those, 78,787,408 tickets, or 81.2% of the total, sold below the list price for 2D screenings. The list price for a 2D film is 15,000 won on weekends and holidays and 14,000 won on weekdays. Tickets sold at exactly the list price numbered 12,361,152, or 12.7%. Another 5,862,485 tickets, or 6.0%, sold above the list price, mostly for premium formats such as IMAX and 4D.
The share of discounted tickets held steady regardless of the day. On weekends and holidays, 82.2% of tickets sold for less than 15,000 won. On weekdays, 79.8% came in under the 14,000-won list price. In effect, roughly eight of every 10 tickets sold at theaters go for less than the list price.
Discounts range from early-morning and youth rates to the monthly Culture Day promotion, telecom membership programs and credit card partnerships. How much each type of discount drives sales is difficult to determine, however, because theaters register only the actual selling price in the integrated system and do not log the specific type of discount separately.
Ticket prices rose sharply through the COVID-19 pandemic, but the average revenue per admission — what each viewer actually pays — has instead declined. The weekend price climbed to 15,000 won from 11,000 won in 2019. Average revenue per admission across all films, by contrast, fell to 10,080 won in 2023 and 9,702 won in 2024 from 10,285 won in 2022. It rebounded slightly to 9,869 won last year but remains well below the current list price. For Korean films, the figure has continued to fall.
Critics also note that higher ticket prices have not translated into higher earnings for the film industry. Ticket revenue is split between theaters and distributors after deductions for the Film Development Fund and value-added tax. When the average revenue per admission falls, the pool shared by theaters, distributors and production companies shrinks as well.
Some say production and distribution companies are at a particular disadvantage in partnership discounts. Those companies often have little visibility into the specific terms of discount agreements, yet their share of revenue is calculated based on figures the theater provides. Critics argue that discount costs and revenue-sharing standards should be disclosed transparently and that a formal consultation framework between industry players is needed.
"If eight out of 10 people watch a movie at a discounted price, you cannot call 15,000 won the normal price," Choi said. "It is clear that the 15,000-won ticket price is inflated by all sorts of discount marketing, so we need to seriously discuss lowering admission prices in exchange for eliminating partnership discounts."
"Discounting movie tickets through partner companies is an unfair arrangement that forces losses onto the film production industry alone," she added. "We need a new framework in which theaters and the production industry can sit down together and talk."