Special ケ

August 2022

Special 2

Multi-Content
Multiplexes

Audiences Become the Protagonist
as Cinemas Take on New Roles

WRITTEN BY
Yu Pureum

Everyone used to have the same experience when they went to the movies. The movie was the protagonist in this cinematic experience. The audience could laugh, cry and enjoy food and beverages as long as it didn¨t interfere with the flow of the film. This traditional cinematic experience is changing, however, with audiences now becoming the protagonists.

While movie theaters have undergone spatial changes in the wake of COVID-19, they¨ve also worked hard to expand the content they offer. The diversification of content, in turn, has changed the way audiences watch movies.

Breaking the Taboo

Disturbing other moviegoers by making sounds or moving around used to be taboo. However, some theaters have recently started to break that taboo.

Sing-and-dance-alongs, where audience members can sing and dance while watching a movie, have created a new type of viewing culture. Koreans love musical movies. Sing-and-dance-along content was created so that audiences could enjoy the experience and sing and dance to their heart¨s content.

To be sure, sing-and-dance-alongs do screen movies. But they create a completely new viewing experience by adding lyrics to the screen whenever a song plays in the film, or by handing out accouterments like light sticks.

Movie theaters have begun screening recorded K-pop concerts. © CJ CGV

The enthusiasm for sing-and-dance-alongs is not limited to movies. Movie theaters have recently begun showing recorded K-pop concerts. People wave their light sticks and sing along to the music as though they are at a real concert. This in-theater concert experience has added yet another way to enjoy K-pop.

Some theaters are subverting another convention, namely, that films are best enjoyed in the dark. Lotte Cinema held a screening event in 2021 called ＾Screening for People Afraid of Scary Movies￣ in which the lights were kept on during the film.

Slightly twisting traditional movie conventions, these events proved quite popular. Audiences can now enjoy movies in new and exciting ways, free from conventional strictures.

A curator conducts an in-theater art lecture and concert. © Artcomplex

All-Encompassing Magic Screen

Movie theaters also show more kinds of content on the big screen, including sporting events, yoga routines, docent programs, virtual tours and humanities lectures.

Megabox hosted ＾Cine Docent,￣ an event in which audiences could enjoy expert commentary on famous works of art or leading museums around the world. What unfolded on the screen was not a scene from a movie, but works of art from world-famous galleries such as the National Gallery of Art. CGV also runs ＾The Artist¨s Table,￣ a dinner concert program where people can eat as they enjoy concerts and lectures on famous paintings.

An instructor teaches audiences during a theater¨s yoga program. © whocares.co.kr

When people couldn¨t travel overseas due to COVID-19, CGV collaborated with local budget airline Jeju Air that added a bit of the travel experience to a night at the movies. Boarding announcements were made, flight routes displayed and views outside the cabin provided, as if the audience were on a real flight. Moviegoers also received special ＾boarding passes￣ and amenities.

Programs that use special theaters have also proven popular. CGV¨s Cine de Chef, which adds gourmet cuisine to the cinematic experience, hosted a ＾Yoga and Brunch￣ program that combined yoga and healthy meals. Megabox also introduced a meditation program that allows people to meditate in comfort at the theater on sofas instead of seats. Experts help guests meditate using tools such as singing bowls.

Stimulating All Five Senses

No longer just multiplexes, movie theaters now offer far more than just movies on the big screen.
These new offerings have one thing in common, though: audience participation. Whereas moviegoers could only passively receive audiovisual information before, they can now consume a diversity of content that excites all five senses.