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| Memories of long lines and sellout signs at cinemas
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| FEBRUARY 04, 2013 06:16 |
Memories of long lines and sellout signs at cinemas
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FEBRUARY 04, 2013 06:16.
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On one Saturday morning in 1990, four days before Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), a long line began in front of Gukdo Theater in downtown Seoul. The line stretched 50 meters into a narrow path where stores selling lighting supplies were clustered. I often asked myself what the fuss was about since I never thought a movie could attract so many people. I got the answer soon. Most of those in line came for a luxurious brochure advertised to be given to the first 100 people. Movie studios did everything to attract as many people as possible on the day a film was released. Producers, directors and theater owners had to see a long line for a new movie before they could exhale. Until the late 1990s, when even phone reservations were not often used, a line in front of a theater was an important form of advertising and a measure to predict box office power.
Daehan Theater was Seoul`s biggest theater until the arrival of multiplexes. When a blockbuster was screened, the line for tickets stretched from the theater to Korea House or to the road across the theater. In the cases of the theaters Piccadilly or Danseongsa in Seoul, the success of a movie was dependent on the number of layers in a long line coiled up in the small plaza between the two venues. Movie theaters and producers take pictures of such long lines and post them in newspapers to advertise.
The sellout was another term used to predict a hit on the big screen. The term has a long history dating back to February 1933, when Danseongsa placed an ad in The Dong-A Ilbo for a movie directed by George Hill of the U.S. saying, “Sellout day after day!” When "Seopyeonje," the first Korean movie to sell more than a million ticket in Seoul, was screened in 1993, a sellout sign was posted in front of Danseongsa for more than 100 days. Before the 1990s, if all tickets on a film`s release day were sold out, the theater owner would give a small amount of money for a cup of coffee to everyone involved in the movie, including the director, cast and production crew.
According to the Korean Film Commission, the number of Koreans who bought movie tickets last month reached 11,984,471, a record easily surpassing the previous mark of 8,242,562 in January last year. Foreign movies in Korea also recorded their highest audience count in history with 20,361,298. More than 100 million people in the country watched domestic movies last year, yet another record. So the momentum of last year has given a great start to Korean movies this year. At a time when movies can be screened simultaneously on more than a thousand screens and movie reservation can be made online, however, long lines and sellout signs are hardly seen in Korea. Nowadays, people chewing sweet potato fries while waiting in a long line in front of a movie theater are hardly seen except in pictures from the past.
Political News Reporter Min Dong-yong (mindy@donga.com)
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| On one Saturday morning in 1990, four days before Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), a long line began in front of Gukdo Theater in downtown Seoul. The line stretched 50 meters into a narrow path where stores selling lighting supplies were clustered. I often asked myself what the fuss was about since I never thought a movie could attract so many people. I got the answer soon. Most of those in line came for a luxurious brochure advertised to be given to the first 100 people. Movie studios did everything to attract as many people as possible on the day a film was released. Producers, directors and theater owners had to see a long line for a new movie before they could exhale. Until the late 1990s, when even phone reservations were not often used, a line in front of a theater was an important form of advertising and a measure to predict box office power.
Daehan Theater was Seoul`s biggest theater until the arrival of multiplexes. When a blockbuster was screened, the line for tickets stretched from the theater to Korea House or to the road across the theater. In the cases of the theaters Piccadilly or Danseongsa in Seoul, the success of a movie was dependent on the number of layers in a long line coiled up in the small plaza between the two venues. Movie theaters and producers take pictures of such long lines and post them in newspapers to advertise.
The sellout was another term used to predict a hit on the big screen. The term has a long history dating back to February 1933, when Danseongsa placed an ad in The Dong-A Ilbo for a movie directed by George Hill of the U.S. saying, “Sellout day after day!” When "Seopyeonje," the first Korean movie to sell more than a million ticket in Seoul, was screened in 1993, a sellout sign was posted in front of Danseongsa for more than 100 days. Before the 1990s, if all tickets on a film`s release day were sold out, the theater owner would give a small amount of money for a cup of coffee to everyone involved in the movie, including the director, cast and production crew.
According to the Korean Film Commission, the number of Koreans who bought movie tickets last month reached 11,984,471, a record easily surpassing the previous mark of 8,242,562 in January last year. Foreign movies in Korea also recorded their highest audience count in history with 20,361,298. More than 100 million people in the country watched domestic movies last year, yet another record. So the momentum of last year has given a great start to Korean movies this year. At a time when movies can be screened simultaneously on more than a thousand screens and movie reservation can be made online, however, long lines and sellout signs are hardly seen in Korea. Nowadays, people chewing sweet potato fries while waiting in a long line in front of a movie theater are hardly seen except in pictures from the past.
Political News Reporter Min Dong-yong (mindy@donga.com)
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