Korean Police Raid Multiplex Operators, Film Distributors
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul Metropolitan Police on Tuesday raided the offices of Korea’s three leading multiplex cinema operators and three film distributors. “The six entities are accused of obstructing the business of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) by falsely counting the audience numbers for Korean films,” a spokesman for the police is reported to have told Korean media, according to the semi-official Yonhap news agency.
The raids were conducted by the force’s anti-corruption and public crime investigation team. Local media named the companies visited by the police on Tuesday as cinema chains CJ CGV, Megabox and Lotte Cinema, and distributors Showbox, Lotte Entertainment and Kidari.
Distributors and cinema operators electronically transmit ticket sales and revenue numbers to KOFIC’s Korean Box Office Information System (Kobis).
Kobis aggregates, analyses and publishes the data online. KOFIC also uses the data to calculate a 3% ticket tax which feeds a “film development fund.” Korea’s box office was badly hit by the national government’s anti-COVID measures which restricted cinema capacity and concession sales until the end of April 2022.
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