Live viewings of the group’s Goyang and Tokyo concerts will be broadcast to roughly 3,800 screens across 80 countries
Ticket sales for the cinema broadcast of BTS’s upcoming world tour opened Wednesday, with screenings in South Korea selling out in minutes.
The live viewings, which beam full-length concerts into movie theaters for audiences to watch in real time, will cover two dates from the group’s “Arirang” world tour: the April 11 gig in Goyang, South Korea and the April 18 gig in Tokyo.
Both will be broadcast live as the group performs, with some regions receiving a delayed feed to account for time differences.
In South Korea, reservations opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday through the country’s three major multiplex chains: CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox.
At CGV Yongsan, the chain’s flagship venue in Seoul, seats were practically all gone within 10 minutes of going live. Megabox Coex and Lotte Cinema World Tower were both roughly two-thirds full shortly after.
Internationally, tickets go on sale at different times depending on the region. In North America, sales open at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, while fans in the UK, Ireland and Portugal can purchase tickets from 1 p.m. GMT, and those across parts of Asia at 8 p.m. Indochina Time.
In total, screenings are set to take place in roughly 3,800 theaters across 80 countries and regions.
The live viewings arrive ahead of what is shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest global touring events.
BTS kicks off the “Arirang” world tour on April 9 at Goyang Sports Complex, with 82 shows planned across 34 cities, the most tour dates ever for a K-pop act. The concerts will feature a 360-degree in-the-round stage designed to place the audience at the center of the performance.
Tickets for all 41 North American and European dates, including the Goyang concerts, have already sold out.
Ahead of the tour, the group will release its fifth studio album, also titled “Arirang,” on March 20. A documentary chronicling the group’s creative process after completing their military service, “BTS: The Return,” will drop on Netflix on March 27.
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