Lotte Cultureworks Implements Emergency Management Amid COVID-19 Spread

[Asia Economy Reporter Jonggil Lee] Lotte Cultureworks, which operates Lotte Cinema, announced on the 21st that it will enter an emergency management system to overcome the crisis caused by a decline in sales due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). While executives voluntarily returned 20% of their salaries, unpaid leave was allowed only for those who wished to take it.

The impact is due to a decrease in sales caused by a decline in audience numbers. The theater industry has turned red due to a surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases. On the 21st, the total number of visitors to theaters was 195,984, which is 26,239 fewer than the 222,223 visitors the previous day. In this month alone, the number of visitors did not exceed 200,000 on five days. The cold atmosphere is even worse than in April last year, when the theaters failed to attract 200,000 visitors for twelve consecutive days. At that time, the theaters were preparing for the release of "Avengers: Endgame."

The gloomy atmosphere is also reflected in the seat occupancy rate. No movie with more than 10,000 seats available exceeded a 10% seat occupancy rate the previous day. The movie that attracted the most viewers (58,899) was "Jipuragi-rado Japgo Sipeun Jimseungdeul" (Beasts Clawing at Straws) with 7.7%, and the second most viewers (44,343) was "1917" with 6.6%. Despite being the weekend, the number of advance bookings for these two movies was only about 30,000 each.