Tickets for Christopher Nolan’s film, The Odyssey, are being resold for up to five times their face value in South Korea. This surge in demand, particularly for IMAX screenings, has led the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) to begin collecting reports of suspected ticket scalping.
IMAX tickets for CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall in Seoul, a premium cinema venue, have been advertised on secondhand platforms for more than 100,000 won (£53). This is significantly higher than their face value of 17,000 to 22,000 won (£9 to £11.6), which varies by day and screening time. Some listings have reached almost 300,000 won (£158) for three consecutive seats for an evening screening on 14 August.
Scalpers reportedly began advertising tickets before the film's opening in South Korea on 5 August. Some sellers were found to be offering more than 10 tickets for a single screening, raising suspicions of automated programmes being used to secure large numbers of seats. The high demand is partly due to The Odyssey being the first film entirely shot on IMAX cameras, with the CGV Yongsan auditorium being the only IMAX screen in South Korea capable of showing the film in its full 1.43:1 aspect ratio.
KOFIC has announced it will accept ongoing reports of suspected ticket scalping for premium formats, including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX. Audiences are asked to report tickets being resold above face value on secondhand marketplaces and social media, as well as cases of unusually large bookings potentially made using macro programmes. Reports should be submitted by email and include film title, cinema, screening date and time, seat information, and evidence such as screenshots of resale listings.