Disney Hit With Complaint That Frozen 2 Violated Anti-Monopoly Laws in South Korea

It didn’t take long for Frozen 2 to become a bonafide hit for Disney Animation Studios, earning $358.2 million over the course of its first three days to deliver the biggest opening weekend for any animated film in history. The Disney sequel dominated each and every market it opened in around the globe, but there is one country playing Frozen 2 that has people up in arms about just how many theaters are showing it.

A non-government organization in South Korea called the Public Welfare Committee filed a complaint with local prosecutors against the Walt Disney Company over the weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The complaint claims that Frozen 2 violated the country’s antitrust act by completely dominating the amount of theaters it’s being shown in. Frozen 2 is currently being shown on a whopping 88% of movie screens throughout the country.

Showing on 88% of screens has certainly paid off for Disney, as Frozen 2 has raked in $61.2 million in Korea since opening on November 23rd. That makes it the third biggest market worldwide for the film, behind North America and China. The PWC argues that this kind of dominance from a single film eliminates a moviegoer’s ability to choose what they’d like to see. If you were to visit a theater in Korea right now, odds are you’d only be able to see Frozen 2.

The PWC claims that Disney’s Frozen 2 release violates the country’s anti-monopoly law, falling under a clause that defines any individual or company with more than half of the market share as a “market-dominant enterprise.”

Disney has “attempted to monopolize screens and seek great profit in the short term, restricting the consumer’s right to choose,” reads the complaint from the PWC.

There is currently no cap on the share of movie screens written into Koren laws pertaining to movie exhibition, per THR, but Disney’s massive movies over the last couple of years have sparked plenty of debate on the issue.