21st century pop icons BTS continue to break records. BTS released their latest concert “BTS in BUSAN” in cinemas beginning on Feb. 1 as “BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” which now holds the record for the highest grossing worldwide event cinema release. Presented by HYBE, CJ 4DPlex, and Trafalgar Releasing for a limited run, “BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” achieved a global box office gross of $40m and boasted a footprint of more than 5,817 cinemas across 128 countries/territories, including a total of 617 coming from CJ 4DPlex’s 4DX and ScreenX locations.
From opening day Wednesday, Feb. 1 through Sunday, Feb. 5 in North America, the total gross was over $8m with a per-screen average of more than $7,080 across 1,127 movie theaters. In the 4DX and ScreenX premium formats the film grossed more than $1.5m with a per screen average of $12,000 representing 19% of the North America box office on only 10% of the screens.
Internationally, “BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” generated $32m, scoring multiple top five positions for the weekend in territories including Japan, Korea, Italy, and Spain, plus the top ten in UK, Germany, Peru, and Australia. The project also reached number one in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines, plus the number one international release in India.
“BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” in ScreenX delivers a truly immersive experience that puts audiences in the front row. With a 270-degree field of view and exclusive imagery, audiences will feel like they are watching BTS live in concert. In multi-sensory 4DX, audiences are surrounded by unique motion and environmental effects that reproduce the atmosphere of a live concert. Complete with synchronized seats timed to BTS’ hit songs, 4DX transcends the “BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” experience.
Jong Ryul Kim, CEO of CJ 4DPLEX said, “With our collaboration with BTS, HYBE and Trafalgar Releasing – we created a truly historic moment in event cinema. The ScreenX Studio production team focused on providing a totally different experience for moviegoers by shooting the film with fourteen cinematography cameras, which were not used in the live streaming event, and were re-edited for the ScreenX presentation.”
“We’re thrilled to see such a strong response from audiences across the globe,” Marc Allenby, CEO of Trafalgar Releasing said. “BTS have a massive and dedicated following, and we’re honored to help them achieve another record-breaking result.”
“BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” features a special cinematic cut of “BTS in BUSAN,” re-edited and remixed for the big screen, with new close-up angles and a whole new view of the entire concert. Recorded in front of a massive sold-out crowd in Busan, South Korea, in October 2022, cinema audiences watched the group’s RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook perform career-spanning hits. In addition to the standard screenings beginning on Feb. 1, showings on Feb. 4 were dedicated to “Light Stick Screenings,” where audiences celebrated using the band’s signature light sticks.
The event was HYBE and Trafalgar Releasing’s fifth global title with the pop icons, including 2018’s “Burn the Stage: The Movie”, 2019’s “Bring the Soul: The Movie”, 2020’s “Break the Silence: The Movie”, and 2022’s “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage – Seoul: Live Viewing”.
*”BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas” is distributed worldwide by Trafalgar Releasing except in South Korea and Japan where it is exclusively distributed by CJ 4DPLEX. The event film will extend its run with additional encore shows this weekend totaling 2,100 locations worldwide. Details for all new screenings can be found at www.btsyettocomeincinemas.com.
About BTS
BTS, an acronym of Bangtan Sonyeondan or “Beyond the Scene,” are a GRAMMY-nominated South Korean boyband that has been capturing the hearts of millions of fans globally since their debut in June 2013. The members of BTS are RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. Gaining recognition for their authentic and self-produced music, top-notch performances, and the way they interact with their fans, the band has established themselves as 21st century pop icons breaking countless world records. While imparting a positive influence through activities such as the LOVE MYSELF campaign and the UN ‘Speak Yourself’ speech, the band has mobilized millions of fans across the world (named ARMY), collected six No.1 Billboard Hot 100 singles in a span of a year and just over a month, and performed multiple sold-out stadium shows across the world. They were also named TIME’s Entertainer of the Year 2020. BTS are 5-time GRAMMY nominees (63rd to 65th GRAMMY Awards) and have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards like the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards (Artist of the Year 2021) and MTV Video Music Awards.
About HYBE
HYBE, rebranded from Big Hit Entertainment in March 2021, is a global entertainment lifestyle platform company that seeks boundless expansion in order to innovate the music industry. Ever since, HYBE has been expanding its multi label system including BIGHIT MUSIC, BELIFT LAB, SOURCE MUSIC, PLEDIS Entertainment, KOZ ENTERTAINMENT, ADOR, HYBE LABELS JAPAN, while HYBE AMERICA also manages its affiliate labels including Big Machine Label Group. In addition to the label business, HYBE established an integrated structure with its solution business that creates concert, video content, game, original story and retail, as well as a platform business through Weverse, a global fandom platform. Composed of its three headquarters based in Korea, Japan and the US, the company works towards bringing innovative change throughout the global music industry.
About Trafalgar Releasing
Trafalgar Releasing, the global leader in event cinema distribution, harnesses the power of cinema to bring fans together in more than 13,000 locations in 132 countries worldwide. A subsidiary of Trafalgar Entertainment, Trafalgar Releasing’s worldwide operations include production, acquisition, marketing, and distribution of live or pre-recorded content to cinemas led by an international team of specialists. Featuring live concerts, music documentaries, world-class opera, award-winning theatre, and more from the leading names in entertainment such as BTS, Metallica, Oasis, Coldplay, Billy Joel, George Michael, Twenty One Pilots, the Royal Opera House and more. More information about Trafalgar Releasing can be found at www.trafalgar-releasing.com.
About CJ 4DPlex
CJ 4DPLEX is a leading, next-generation cinema technology company, headquartered in Seoul with international offices in Los Angeles and Beijing. The company has created innovative film technologies for theaters worldwide that include ‘ScreenX’, ‘4DX’, and ‘4DX Screen’ for consumers to experience films in ways that were never before possible.
CJ 4DPLEX is a part of the CJ Group conglomerate that also includes entertainment powerhouses CJ CGV, the fifth largest theater chain in the world, and CJ ENM (CJ Entertainment & Media), who produced the Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Awards winning film, “Parasite”. CJ 4DPLEX was named Most Innovative Company of 2017 and 2019 in Live Events by Fast Company, and the technology has been recognized with Silver at the Edison Awards in the Media and Visual Communications-Entertainment category in 2015 and 2018.
ScreenX is the world’s first multi-projection cinema with an immersive 270 degree field of view. By expanding the image beyond the frame and onto the walls of the theatre, ScreenX draws you into the story on the main screen and immerses you in a virtual reality like setting with cinema quality resolution. To date, there are over 354 ScreenX auditoriums around the world in 38 countries.
4DX provides moviegoers with a multi-sensory cinema-going experience, allowing audiences to connect with movies through motion, vibration, water, wind, snow, lightning, scents, and other special effects that enhance the visuals on-screen. Each 4DX auditorium incorporates motion-based seating synchronized with more than 21 different effects and optimized by a team of skilled editors. To date, there are over 787 4DX auditoriums around the world, spanning over 69 countries.
4DXScreen is a powerful combination of our super premium immersive theatre technologies of ScreenX and 4DX in one auditorium, creating a never-before-seen experience for cinemagoers. To date, there are 46 4DXScreens installed around the globe.