Korean Media: The Korean Film Industry in Crisis!
On December 28, the South Korean media outlet "Hankyung Economic" published an article stating that in one sentence, the South Korean film industry is in a "low point." As of September this year, the total number of moviegoers in South Korea was 35.43 million, a decrease of 40.5% compared to the same period last year, only one-third of the pre-pandemic level.
Due to the decline in the number of new films released in South Korea, the domestic cinema market share of South Korean films, which had been above 50% since 2011, dropped to 47.1% in 2025. The average number of times people watched movies per person also fell from more than four times per year to 2.4 times per year in 2024, reaching levels comparable to those during the restructuring period of the South Korean film industry in the early 2000s.
This is due to the rapid shift in consumer video content consumption patterns. During the pandemic, the number of people going to cinemas was restricted, but the amount of video content viewed through online video streaming services (OTT) and YouTube increased significantly. With the dramatic increase in the amount of content available on OTT platforms and YouTube, people's motivation to go to the cinema to watch movies has also decreased.
77% of the revenue of the South Korean film industry comes from domestic cinemas, television and video-on-demand account for 10%, and overseas exports account for 13%. Therefore, the decline in the number of viewers has caused a devastating blow to the domestic film industry in South Korea. Since the impact of the pandemic became apparent, the average box office revenue of commercial films has remained negative, at -31.0% in 2023 and -16.4% in 2024.
South Korean cinema chains are actively expanding into overseas markets. According to the Overseas Economy Research Institute of the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, as of 2024, the United States ranked first globally with an annual box office revenue of 8.57 billion U.S. dollars, followed by China (5.81 billion U.S. dollars), India (1.42 billion U.S. dollars), Japan (1.33 billion U.S. dollars), the United Kingdom (1.25 billion U.S. dollars), and South Korea (880 million U.S. dollars). In the Asian market, especially Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, although the scale is smaller, the overall situation shows a rapid recovery trend.
Lotte Cinema entered the Vietnamese market in 2008, the Chinese market in 2010, and the Indonesian market in 2017, but then withdrew from most markets, retaining only its Vietnamese subsidiary. As of the end of the second quarter this year, Lotte Cinema operates 45 cinemas in Vietnam, with a market share of about 30%. Despite continuous losses, its performance is gradually recovering under the impetus of the thriving local film industry in Vietnam.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1852740997104649/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.