There is also an indicator that distinguishes films that have achieved great success in the Korean film industry. There is also an indicator that it is a similar movie with a box office hit of $1 billion. From “Silmido”, which was released in 2003 and surpassed the 10 million mark for the first time, to “The Outlaws 4”, which was released in 2024, a total of 33 films have surpassed the 10 million mark in Korea. Of these, 24 Korean films and 9 foreign films. In fact, there are many successful films without mobilizing more than millions of audiences, but as the media paid attention to economies of scale, the number of audiences became a reference point, and these films are separately referred to as symbols that attracted 10 million audiences, about 1/5 of the Korean population. Of course, it is natural, but to say that it has 10 million viewers is a rhetorical expression, not everyone who has actually seen the film. This is because this audience mobilization is counted by the number of tickets sold. Since the aggregated number of tickets for the 10 million audience includes those who have watched the film more than two times, the number of spectators does not mean the exact number of spectators who have seen the film in theaters. In fact, this symbolic relationship with 10 million viewers applies only to the Korean film industry, and in the case of overseas movie sales, the total amount of global box office income is mentioned and the number of audience attendance is sometimes not mentioned. It is often reported in the media that the Japanese film industry in the next country alone measures 10 billion yen (about 10 million dollars).
However, it is difficult to say that only box office income is counted because there are complex problems such as the difference between the number of audiences and the ticket price in all countries around the world. This is because France, Germany, Russia, and Brazil also count the number of audiences. Still, it is generally a principle to prioritize imports. Some say that the reason why Korean films place symbolism in the number of 10 million viewers is that secondary profit models such as DVD and Blu-ray are weak [4] and that it is an environment in which many people can make profits only when they come to the theater. In fact, Korea also tried to select the ranking using the sales tally, but when it did not receive attention from the media, it changed to the number of audiences again. Since the keyword “movie exceeding 10 million viewers” came out, Korea’s theater system has already been completely reorganized into a large-scale industrial oligopoly centered on multiplexes, and it was not easy under the current system where the number of audiences and the unit price of visitors were directly linked to box office profits.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
