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No. of Movie Screens at Theaters Increases

SEOUL (Yonhap) _ The number of movie screens jumped nearly 40 percent last year from a year earlier, figures by a government-supported body promoting the local film industry showed Friday.

The Korean Film Council said the number of screens increased to 1,567 as of the end of last year from 1,132 a year ago, up 38.4 percent.

It represents rapid growth compared with respective increases of 22 percent and 14 percent in 2002 and 2003.

During the same period, the number of theaters also rose by 28 percent to 357 from 280. Their numbers dropped off from 1998 as many were transformed into multiplexes with more than three screens, but 2004 marked a new spurt of growth.

"The local film industry entered a new stage with the market advancement made by new multiplex chains", the council said in an annual report.

It said 162 multiplex theaters had five or more screens, accounting for 45 percent of the total number of cinemas nationwide.

It showed the country's three multiplex chains _ CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox _ dominate the market as they have a combined number of 592 screens, almost half of the nation's total.

The report predicted the number of screens operated by the three biggest theater businesses will reach 1,273 by 2007.

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