Korea’s film industry concerned about collapse as Covid-19 restrictions return

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" has already broken pandemic-era box office records in Korea, in its first two days. But Korean theatre operators are warning of an industry collapse, as the country adopts revived measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

The new measures mean a return of social distancing rules and restrictions for a minimum of two weeks. These include a maximum of four people in restaurants, a 9 pm curfew for bars and clubs, and a 10 pm curfew in cinema halls and concert venues.

Film distributors have responded by delaying the planned release of some films. Movie theatres are rescheduling screenings this weekend, and reimbursing some pre-sold tickets.

This would mean a slowing of the box office success of "Spider-Man: No Way Home".  The film sold 635,000 tickets on its Wednesday debut with a gross value of $5.27 million, as per reports. 

Film trade organisations, including the Producers Guild of Korea, Directors Guild of Korea, The Association of Korean Buyers & Distributors of Foreign Films in Korea, Screenwriters Guild of Korea and Korea Theater Association, published a joint statement, asking the government to rethink the measures.

They argue that cinema theatres are not significant health hazards, and that the film industry has been particularly badly hit by the previous anti-Covid measures. Restrictions were only loosened a few weeks ago at the beginning of November.

The organisations are concerned about the fact that the night time curfews for movie theatres will hinder new films from being released, and will spread to the industry itself, ultimately leading to its collapse like a domino effect.

The new restrictions weigh on the planned release of Hollywood films including Warner Bros.' "The Matrix Resurrections" and Disney's "The King's Man," which are both scheduled to premiere in December.