Impact of COVID-19... Last Year Movie Theater Closures Highest in 12 Years

Sangga Information Research Institute "81 Movie Theaters Closed Nationwide Last Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim On-yu] Last year, due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the number of movie theater closures was the highest in 12 years since the 2008 US financial crisis.

The Commercial Real Estate Research Institute, a research and development company specializing in income-generating real estate, cited statistics from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and announced on the 26th that 81 movie theaters nationwide closed last year. This figure is about twice the number of closures in 2019 (43 theaters), marking the highest record in 12 years since the 2008 US financial crisis (88 theaters).

In the metropolitan area, the most movie theater closures occurred in Incheon (21 theaters), followed by Gyeonggi (4 theaters) and Seoul (2 theaters). In the provinces, 54 theaters shut down.

Movie theaters are enclosed spaces, and with strict guidelines such as sitting one seat apart and prohibiting the consumption of certain foods, the number of viewers and sales sharply declined last year. Additionally, the indefinite postponement of scheduled movie releases exacerbated the damage, leading to an increase in closures.

However, the number of movie theaters opened last year nationwide was 218, which is an increase compared to 2019 (173 theaters). An industry insider said, "The increase in movie theater openings last year was already planned and does not indicate a boom in the industry."