South Korean box office gross went up 14.6% year-on-year in the first half, despite a 3.9% dip in admissions, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

From Jan 1 to June 30 this year, 69.44 million tickets sold for $44.72m (KW54.7bn).

The average ticket now goes for $6.44 (KW7,880), up from the $5.39 (KW6,600) last year. This is thanks to 3D films led by Avatar which have diversified ticket prices, in addition to last July’s price hike ahead of the release of Transformers 2.

Foreign films took 60% of the box office gross, while local films took 40%, down 4.9% year-on-year.

Of the foreign films, US films took 56% of the box office with Chinese films taking 1.4%, European films taking 1.9% and Japanese films 0.8%.

CJ Entertainment led the distributors in Korea, releasing 27 films including Iron Man 2, local fantasy action film Woo Chi, and jailhouse chorus film Harmony, starring Yunjin Kim. The company took 27% market share.

At no. 2 in distributor rankings, 20th Century Fox Korea followed with 8 films including Avatar and Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, taking 20.3% of the market.

Top 10 Films
(title/ country/ distributor/ screens/ admissions/ gross)
* only from Jan 1 - June 30, 2010.

1. Avatar (US) 20th Century Fox Korea (912) 8,149,774/ 81,430,106,000

2. Secret Reunion (Korea) Showbox Mediaplex (572) 5,416,188/ 40,157,932,333

3. Iron Man 2 (US) CJ Entertainment (757) 4,424,708/ 32,631,973,167

4. Woo Chi (a.k.a. Jeon Woochi) (Korea) CJ Entertainment (606) 3,611,715/ 26,348,663,000

5. Harmony (Korea) CJ Entertainment (405) 3,017,719/ 21,642,013,333

6. The Servant (Korea) CJ Entertainment (512) 2,687,829/ 20,261,856,000

7. Clash of the Titans (US) Warner Bros. Korea (694) 2,642,125/ 21,795,441,833

8. How to Train Your Dragon (US) CJ Entertainment (562) 2,546,993/ 26,896,413,000

9. The Housemaid (2010/05/13) SidusFNH (Korea) 2,267,099/ 17,038,030,000

10. Alice in Wonderland (US) Sony Pictures Releasing Buena Vista International Korea (401) 2,146,916/ 20,333,272,167