Single User Hoards 286 Tickets for 'The Odyssey'… Inside the Reality of 'Macro' Abuse

[Anchor]

Cases have been confirmed where tickets for "The Odyssey," which sparked a massive ticketing frenzy because the entire movie was shot with IMAX-dedicated cameras, were hoarded using macro programs.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the story.

[Reporter]

"If it is not an IMAX theater, you have not truly seen 'The Odyssey'."

As the first film in cinema history to be shot entirely on IMAX-dedicated film cameras, a rush for IMAX tickets began the moment "The Odyssey" was released.

In the case of the Yongsan IMAX theater in Seoul, often called "Yong-Ahmak," notification services even appeared to alert people to the exact time ticketing windows open.

[Park Minyoung and Han Ji min / Gwanak-gu, Seoul: Once ticketing starts opening, an alarm comes from there, and once the alarm pops up first, I think I grabbed it from there. I think it took 3 or 4 weeks (to succeed in booking).]

Transactions taking place on second-hand trading platforms at more than five times the original price have also been spotted, and SBS coverage confirmed that scalpers used macros—automatic repetitive input programs—to make bulk purchases.

Over the course of about a month following its release, a single account booked a staggering 286 tickets, an amount equivalent to the total seating capacity of a standard screening room.

Combining the seats purchased by the top five accounts exceeds 1,100 seats, and during July and August of this year, when major blockbusters like "HOPE," "Spider-Man," and "The Odyssey" were screened, the number of macro-suspected ticketing attempts blocked by CGV reached approximately 230 million.

During the same period, the cancellation rate for the Yongsan IMAX theater exceeded 50%, and rumors suggest that scalpers canceled tickets after failing to sell them following bulk purchases.

[Jang Jun-seo, Lee Hyun-jin, and Park Gyeong-hwan / Dongjak-gu, Seoul: It was almost impossible to get any. It felt like competing with a machine. It seems scalpers buy them up and then cancel right before the movie starts.]

Controversy also arose when a post was uploaded on an online community claiming to have actually made 14 million won in profit from scalped tickets at Yong-Ahmak using macros.

[Choi Minhee / National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Member (Democratic Party): We can no longer leave unattended the situation where audience members cannot even access the ticketing window and are forced to buy tickets at a premium.]

CGV stated that bulk purchases do not necessarily lead to scalpers, but added that it will strengthen security systems against abnormal ticketing.

(Video reporting: Shin Dong-hwan and Yang Ji-hoon, Video editing: Yu Mi-ra, Design: Kim Han-gil, Data provided by the office of lawmaker Choi Minhee of the Democratic Party)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.