상반기 극장 관객 최다...국내•외 영화 모두 흥행<br /><br />Cinemas in South Korea saw an increase... in both the number of tickets sold and total revenues in the first half... thanks to a slew of big hits.<br />The trend is likely to continue throughout the year,... with more highly-anticipated films ready to hit the big screen in the second half.<br />Yoon Jung-min has details.<br />Cinemas in South Korea enjoyed a boom in the first half of this year,... with the number of movie-goers and ticket sales both hitting record highs.<br />According to data by the Korean Film Council on Thursday,... over 109 million movie tickets were sold from January to June,... up 13-point-5 percent from a year ago.<br />Total box office revenues rose 16 percent on-year... to more than 789-point-5 million U.S. dollars during the same period.<br />Viewership for Korean films rose to nearly 56-point-9 million,... taking up more than half of all tickets sold... for six years running.<br />Among the films, 'Extreme Job' directed by Lee Byung-hun and 'Parasite' by Bong Joon-ho were big hits,... each attracting around 10 million viewers as of July.<br />Imports attracted 52-point-4 million viewers,.. on the back of the popularity of Marvel's 'Avengers: Endgame' and Disney's 'Aladdin'.<br />"Movies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment in South Korea. It takes up a major share of culture activities compared to performances and exhibitions. There is a large number of potential viewers here and blockbuster films turn them into actual viewers."<br />The film council expects the cinema boom to continue in the latter half,... with many highly-anticipated films slated for release in Korea, including 'Lion King', 'Tazza: One Eyed Jack' and 'Frozen 2' and more.<br />Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.<br />
