Is Disney Taking Over The South Korean Film Market?

Despite an overwhelming amount of fan reception, in addition to setting a new Thanksgiving box office record, “Frozen 2” has drawn Disney into an anti-trust complaint with South Korean non-profit organization, Public Welfare Committee. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the animated film, which has amassed $738.6 million globally, has also allegedly violated a PWC clause claiming “Frozen 2” appeared in 88% of domestic movie theaters on its opening day.

The antitrust claim highlights concerns of Disney’s foothold in the Korean moviegoing industry. Korea ranks third in the world for “Frozen 2” revenue, earning $61.2 million next to China, which has amassed $90.5 million.

As PWC’s antitrust complaint reads, the company has “attempted to monopolize the screens and seek great profit in the short term, restricting the consumer’s right to choose.” Their allegations point out that Disney’s release of “Frozen 2” on an alleged 88% of Korean screens proves that Disney itself is a “market-dominant enterprise,” because it assumes dominance over 50% of the market share according to PWC.

There is currently no law in Korea that stipulates how many screens a particular film can or should occupy, yet the dominance of Disney’s imported movies has led many to question the necessity for such a law. A variety of Korean officials have long pressured lawmakers in designing a fair and equal ratio amongst cinema screenings.

Culture Minister Park Yang-woo vied to enact a cinema quota system that would help to diminish the dominance of imported films over domestic ones. Woo Sang-ho, National Assembly Representative for the Democratic Party of Korea, presented a bill that will not allow any one film to surpass 50% of moviegoing hours. The bill is still being reviewed.

The measurements and methods of discovering a film’s monopoly have itself been of hot debate in Korea. While PWC may find “Frozen 2” on 88% of screens, yet another organization, the state-run Korean Film Council (KOFIC), has recorded 46.3% as of Nov. 23. Whereas PWC goes by the percentage of theaters showing the film at least once in a day, KOFIC measures them by dividing how many films were shown on the same day with the total number of times the specific movie was screened.