Domestic films accounted for nearly half of box office ticket sales in the year's first half.

The Korean Film Council said in a recent report that 44-point-seven percent of viewers watched Korean movies in the first half of 2009. American films posted a slightly higher, 45 percent share.

The popularity of domestic films is up from last year's 37 percent when the gap with Hollywood films was 17 percentage points.

The number of viewers who watched domestic films grew close to 24 percent year on year to over 32 million. Overall, ticket sales rose 25 percent in the first half.