Tickets for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey are being resold for up to five times their face value in South Korea, as demand for IMAX screenings has prompted the country’s film council to begin collecting reports of suspected ticket scalping. IMAX tickets at CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall in Seoul, one of South Korea’s most sought-after premium cinema venues, have appeared on secondhand trading platforms for more than 100,000 won (£53), compared with a face value of 17,000 to 22,000 won (£9 to £11.6) depending on the day and screening time, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. Some listings have gone considerably higher, with SBS News reporting that three consecutive seats for an evening screening on 14 August were being offered for almost 300,000 won (£158).
Scalpers had begun advertising tickets before the film even opened in South Korea on 5 August. Some sellers were found to be offering more than 10 tickets for a single screening, raising suspicions that automated programmes were being used to secure large numbers of seats before they were resold, according to The Korea Herald. The rush for tickets has been driven in large part by the unusual way The Odyssey was made, as it is the first film to be entirely shot on IMAX cameras.
While South Korea has 27 IMAX theatres, the CGV Yongsan auditorium is the only IMAX screen capable of showing the film in its full 1.43:1 aspect ratio without cropping, making tickets there particularly coveted by audiences keen to see The Odyssey as Nolan intended. The demand has been strong enough to send some moviegoers beyond Seoul in search of a seat. Shin Myeong-ho, 25, travelled from Seoul’s Seongbuk district to Daejeon on 8 August to watch The Odyssey in IMAX, and told The Chosun Daily that he would have had to wait “at least two weeks” if he wanted to watch it in Seoul.
For fans trying to book through the usual platforms, the result has been a race for a limited number of seats before they disappear into the resale market. The Korean Film Council, known as KOFIC, has now stepped in and announced that it will accept reports of suspected ticket scalping on an ongoing basis, covering premium formats including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX. New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial.
Plan auto-renews until cancelled. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. The council is asking audiences to report tickets being resold above face value on secondhand marketplaces and social media, as well as cases in which sellers appear to have made unusually large bookings using macro programmes.
Reports can be submitted by email and should include the film title, cinema, screening date and time, and seat information, along with evidence like screenshots of resale listings and conversations with sellers. The Odyssey has been enjoying an unusually strong run in South Korea as the country’s cinema industry continues its recovery from the prolonged decline in theatrical attendance following the pandemic. Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Greek epic retained the top spot at the weekend box office in its second week and passed five million admissions on its 13th day of release, according to Sports Chosun.
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