Movie industry signs pact on shared growth

A trilateral commission of the government, movie industry executives and associations of industry people on Monday signed an agreement calling for their best efforts to carry out “shared growth” within the industry.

The parties agreed to launch a center for monitoring unfair acts by large conglomerates as part of efforts to lessen their monopoly on the market, according to the commission.

The monitoring center will be set up under the Korean Film Council, a government agency for promoting homegrown films, the commission said.

The agreement came as the country saw record attendance for homegrown films in the first half of 2012. Despite the growth, small but diverse films have fewer opportunities to be screened at theaters than before, as large corporations have monopolized the market based on their power as the main investors, makers and distributors.

Under the pact, small and low-budget films will be given at least a week to be screened at cinemas, and cross-screening those movies without consent from their distributors will be banned, the commission said.

Companies will be obliged to provide four major types of insurance and benefits to their film workers, it added.

The signing ceremony was held at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, attended by its minister Choe Kwang-shik and about 100 movie industry people.

“This is not the end of the discussion on the shared growth, but a new starting point,” Choe said in his speech at the ceremony.

He called for efforts to fulfill the agreement.

Korean films sold 44.18 million tickets at local theaters in the first half, the highest number ever, representing a year-on-year increase of 34.6 percent, according to the ministry and the Korean Film Council. Seven of the top ten best-selling movies for the first half were Korean films, they said. 

(Yonhap News)