Movie theaters in Korea

Going to the movies in Korea is an exciting experience. First, you have to find out if the movie you want is playing. Often in Korea, only the huge blockbusters aka things that transcend cultural barriers. Action movies usually work. Comedies may not, as Korean humor is very different from American. Most of the movies, as you can imagine, are in Korean. When a foreign movie is shown however, it is shown in English (or other language of origin) with Korean subtitles. I haven't really been to see that many movies as especially in Korea it is rather easy to see movies an... uhhum.. another way. But on a few occasions that required I head to the movie theater I headed down to Yongsan Station to check them out. Yongsan station is also the same place where you can find more electronics that you can imagine to purchase if you so choose.

One such momentous occasion was the release of
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince => Language: English (해리 포터와 혼혈 왕자) . The movie theater at Yongsan is an IMAX theater, the only one in Seoul as far as I know, so we were thrilled to go see the movies immediately. By the way, as a side note, Korean youth are obsessed with Harry Potter. I have seen many of my kids reading the books in Korean and a few braver ones even in English...

So you can preorder your movie tickets online, but the problem for most foreigners is that these websites are usually 1. In Korean, 2. Require a credit card (only issued to Korean Nationals) and 3. Even if you have one, you may need a Korean ID number, which, unless you are Korean, you don't have - you probably have an ARC number instead. We often get around this by asking Korean coworkers to help us and then just reimbursing them. Anyways we picked a late night viewing so we had no worries that tickets would be sold out.

Another cool thing about movie theaters here is that seats are assigned. Yes. Assigned. That means no hunting for a seat in an overly crowded movie theater. Advantageous if you are there early, and of course saves much hassle. There are even hosts and hostesses to help you to your seat.


Other than that, it's pretty much the same.
You can buy popcorn and other goodies before you go in, and watch some really hilarious commercials before showtime, that might give you insight as to why your kids have been screaming random phrases (Korean commercials are catchy, silly and often the cause of ESL teacher headaches) This is the one that was hot when I saw the movie. KT is a cell company. Olleh is hello backwards. A clever play on the Spanish bullfighting call. My kids would yell Olleh after every test question answer I called out for weeks.


One small side note, the movie (HP and the Half Blood Prince) was OK. The books are better, this angle was too lovey-dovey, and on top of that, we only got to wear the 3d glasses for 15 minutes and then it was over. A trick. Still go see movies in Korea. Its so cool, and so worth it :) Here is a list of movie theaters. Enjoy


HP movie crew trying to imitate poster