SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's box office revenue has climbed up to a record-high in 2009 with an estimated revenue surpassing one trillion won (868.8 million U.S. dollars) for the first time, a state-run film council said on Tuesday.

    A tentative estimation as of Dec. 30 based on a number of movie tickets annually sold shows ticket sales recorded the highest cumulative gain last year, hitting 1.08 trillion won (938 million U.S. dollars), Korea Film Council said.

    "The estimation will be finalized by late January, but annual sales higher than one trillion won is quite a landmark," Han Seung-hee, an official at the council, told Xinhua.

    Several movie theaters have been excluded from the data, and they will account for about one to two percent of the total theaters nationwide, she added.

    Local media have attributed the record-high revenue to higher ticket prices rather than a higher number of audience, which stands at 150 million.

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