[E-Daily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] Director Christopher Nolan’s “The Martian” is creating an unexpected dilemma for movie theaters. While audiences are flocking to special-format theaters, including IMAX, theaters would like to screen the film even one more time, but they cannot simply keep showing “The Martian” indefinitely. This is due to the “screen quota” policy, which requires theaters to screen Korean films on a certain number of screens for a set period each year.

◇ “Yong-IMAX” Has Screened Korean Films for 35 Days This Year… Must Fill 38 More Days by Year-End
The most striking phenomenon surrounding the box office success of “The Odyssey” is the concentration of viewership in special theaters. In particular, the CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall IMAX theater—known as “Yong-A-Mac”—is seeing such high demand that even additional tickets are selling out quickly. Its rarity—as the only theater in Korea where audiences can watch the film, shot by Director Nolan on full IMAX 70mm film, in a 1.43:1 aspect ratio—has driven up demand. It’s so popular that it’s difficult to secure seats from the 7:30 a.m. matinee to the 1:00 a.m. late-night showing.
While this is welcome box office success for the theater, the math isn’t simple. The longer *The Odyssey* remains in theaters, the greater the burden of meeting the screen quota for the remainder of the period.
A look at the actual figures makes Yong-A-Maek’s situation even clearer. According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network, out of the 232 days from January 1 to August 20 of this year, “Yong-A-Maek” screened Korean films on only 35 days. Of the 30 films shown at “Yong-A-Maek” during this period, only three—*Humin*, *Gunche*, and *Hope*—were Korean films.
Under the current screen quota system, theaters are required to screen Korean films for at least 73 days per year on each individual screen. “Yong-A-Maek” is no exception. Although approximately 64% of the year has passed, “Yong-A-Maek” has only met the quota for 35 days—just 48% of the annual requirement. To reach the 73-day requirement, the theater would need to screen Korean films on 38 of the remaining 133 days until the end of the year—roughly once every three days.

The problem is that there is no steady supply of Korean films optimized for IMAX. While regular theaters can meet the mandatory screening quota by scheduling Korean films, the situation is different for specialized theaters such as IMAX and 4DX. This is because the supply of content in dedicated formats is inherently limited.
Consequently, with an insufficient supply of Korean films designed for special theaters, meeting the quota may lead to situations where standard 2D Korean films—not in the IMAX format—are screened in IMAX theaters. Similarly, 4DX theaters may schedule films that do not feature 4D effects. This creates a “mismatch” where theaters equipped with expensive special-format technology end up screening films that do not utilize those technologies.
From the audience’s perspective, this is bound to be perplexing. They enter spaces designed to deliver the large screens of IMAX or the immersive experience of 4DX, only to encounter films that have nothing to do with those formats. Conversely, screening opportunities for films like *The Odyssey*, for which demand in special-format theaters is overwhelmingly high, may decrease.
◇Special Theaters Also Face the “73-Day” Rule… The 20-Year-Old Screen Quota Dilemma
The root of this problem lies in how the screen quota is calculated. Introduced to protect Korean films, the screen quota has remained in place since 2006, when the annual mandatory screening requirement was reduced from 146 days to 73 days. The key point is that the quota is applied on a per-screen basis, rather than to the multiplex as a whole.
However, the theater industry has changed significantly over the past 20 years. Special-format theaters—such as IMAX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and Superplex—have grown rapidly. Amid declining audience numbers and the spread of OTT services, these special-format theaters have established themselves as core offerings for cinemas by leveraging higher per-customer revenue and a differentiated viewing experience compared to standard theaters. The ticket lines for *The Odyssey* demonstrate that audiences are paying not just for a movie, but for “the environment in which they watch it.”

In contrast, the screen quota system does not distinguish between standard theaters and special-format theaters. This is why some argue that, regardless of the system’s original intent to protect Korean films, it is necessary to examine whether the “73 days per screen” rule—established 20 years ago—is still appropriate for today’s theater environment.
One alternative being discussed is changing the quota calculation standard from “per screen” to “per theater.” For example, for a theater with 10 screens, instead of requiring each individual screen to meet the 73-day requirement, the total screening record of Korean films across all screens would be aggregated to meet the average standard. The logic behind this is that it would guarantee overall screening opportunities for Korean films while allowing specialty theaters with distinct purposes—such as IMAX or 4DX—to operate flexibly according to demand. However, since changing the calculation method could lead to Korean films being concentrated in certain standard theaters or result in a reduction in overall screening opportunities, safeguards must be put in place to ensure the system’s original intent is not compromised.
Ultimately, the question raised by *The Odyssey* goes beyond simply whether a single foreign film can be screened for a few more days. It is a matter of how to reflect—within the system—the completely transformed viewing environment and the nature of specialty theaters that have emerged over the past 20 years, all while protecting Korean films. With nearly two-thirds of the year already gone, the number of mandatory screening days for Korean films remaining at “Yong-A-Maek” is 38. As audiences flock to see “Odyssey” until the early hours of the morning, special theaters are already grappling with complex calculations on how to fill their quotas by the end of the year.