Dec 3, 2019

Disney claimed to have violated South Korean antitrust laws Over the release of "Frozen 2"

A South Korean civic group has lodged a complaint with local prosecutors against the Korean unit of the Walt Disney Company, claiming that the company violated the country's antitrust act by screening Frozen 2 on over 88% of the country's movie screens.

According to a news report by Korean news agency Yonhap, The Public Welfare Committee (PWC) believes that Disney's behavior constitutes a monopoly over the country's movie market and is demanding a government probe into their activities. Their complaint says in part:

Frozen 2 may simply be the tipping point in a long-running battle between South Korean filmmakers and the country's film industry conglomerates. Last week, the Cineastes Council for Anti-Monopoly, a group that represents Korean filmmakers, released a statement that said, “The screen monopoly is not a one-off case. The government has to tackle the winner-take-all cinema market.”

Ninety-three percent of the movie screens in S. Korea are controlled by just three conglomerates - CJ Group, Lotte Group, and Megabox. In the case of CJ, they own the country's largest film distributor in addition to being an exhibitor, a conflict of interest that creates an imbalance in the types of films screened in multiplexes.

A bill is currently pending in the Korean government that would restrict the percentage of any film shown in multiplexes to under 50 percent during the prime moviegoing hours of 1-11pm.

Frozen 2 has earned over $60 million in South Korea since its release, making it the third-largest market for the film at the moment, trailing only the United States and China.

A story in The Hollywood Reporter questions the PWC's methodology for claiming Frozen 2 occupied over 88% of screens. Per THR:

Either way you cut it, that's a lot of Olaf for one country.