Jung Woo Sung recently shared his honest thoughts on the condition of the movie industry in South Korea, particularly, the current situation with low box office numbers at movie theaters.
On November 30, Jung Woo Sung was invited to Sung Si Kyung's home for an episode of his YouTube show. On this day, Sung Si Kyung prepared some of the dishes Jung Woo Sung requested and sat down for a candid talk about Jung Woo Sung's latest film '12.12: The Day.'
While talking about the topic, Jung Woo Sung mentioned, "The phrases 'it's difficult for Korean films,' 'theaters are suffering,' 'theaters are having a difficult time,' and 'please watch at a movie theater' are absurd. It's shameless."
The actor elaborated, "Even when I'm working, if there's a short break in the morning or an afternoon shoot, I go to the movie theater to watch recently released Korean movies. However, buying tickets on the spot at some point became too easy. In the past, I had to make reservations before going."
He emphasized that this shift in theater attendance underscores a decline in the popularity of Korean films. Jung Woo Sung further observed a noticeable decrease in the number of individuals specifically seeking out theaters for movie experiences, indicating changing viewer habits and preferences.
He remarked, "Before there were sofas at the theater lobbies so that people could sit while they wait 10-20 minutes for the film to start. But now they got rid of all the sofas. This means that the theaters are really suffering so they cut down the staff. If people sit on the sofas they have to clean them, so they got rid of the sofas."
Jung Woo Sung continued, "I only know this fact because I go to the theaters to watch movies but I wonder how many actors can notice this too. So I want to say something to them. They only say 'Come to the theater to watch our movie' when their movie is released but do they themselves go to the theaters to watch Korean films? I want to give them this harsh advice."
He then shared, "We need to go watch other actors' films, other Korean films, other independent films at the movie theaters. We have to also be a viewer in the movie theater."
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low box office numbers at movie theaters is the same all over the world. I think even before the pandemic it was started happening. And now after COVID it just got worst. You know when you can just watch a movie from home a couple months after release on netflix or whatever other streaming platform. People will just choose to wait. Unless it's like a big movie with a lot of hype like BARBIE was. But honestly, these days there really isn't any movie worth pay $16 just to watch with a room full of strangers.