Box office suffers historic first-half decline as theaters adapt survival strategies

Korea Herald

2 days ago

Revenue plunges 33 percent while multiplexes pivot to exclusive programming and government hands out discount coupons
It's almost a truism at this point to say that movie theaters are in deep trouble, and Thursday's midyear report from the Korean Film Council confirmed it once again with hard numbers.
According to the report, box office revenue declined 33 percent year-on-year to 408 billion won ($293 million) in the first half of 2025, with attendance dropping 32.5 percent.
Only two films managed to break the 30 billion won threshold: Tom Cruise's Hollywood blockbuster "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" led with 32.9 billion won from 3.36 million admissions, followed closely by local crime thriller "Yadang: The Snitch" at 32 billion, which drew 3.38 million viewers.
No release came close to the 10 million admission mark — the traditional benchmark for mega-hit status in Korea. Compare that to last year's first half, when "Exhuma" raked in 115 billion won from nearly 12 million tickets and "The Roundup: Punishment" pulled similar numbers.
Local productions took the biggest hit, plunging 43 percent to 203.8 billion won. Foreign films fared better but still declined 19 percent, with the international box office take dropping to 204 billion won.
Survival mode: multiplexes go niche
Faced with this new reality, multiplex chains are throwing out the old playbook. Instead of banking on wide releases, they are getting creative with curation and exclusive programming that caters to dedicated fanbases, the report also showed.
Megabox launched "Mega Only," a monthly exclusive release program targeting niche audiences with specialized content. Its exclusive screening of the hit anime franchise "Attack on Titan: The Last Attack" made 9.5 billion won with 920,000 admissions, setting a record for single-theater releases. The program expands next week with an exclusive screening of "First Summer," Heo Ga-young's student short that won top prize at Cannes' La Cinef competition.
Lotte Cinema, which announced its merger with Megabox in May, scored with the animated short "Magic Candies" in May, earning 500 million won from 100,000 viewers to rank third all-time for short films.
Market leader CGV is doubling down on its premium formats to showcase fandom-targeted content, particularly concert films. The chain's panoramic ScreenX theaters hosted "IU Concert: The Winning" in January, capturing the K-pop star's world tour encore. July brought "Hybe Cine Fest in Asia," a sprawling showcase of BTS, Seventeen and other Hybe acts where fans could sing along during screenings.
Signs of hope, but no guarantees
Can the second half turn things around? For one thing, the government's betting on it.
Starting July 25, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism rolled out 6,000 won discount coupons to slash ticket prices. Early signs look promising — "My Daughter is a Zombie" scored the year's biggest opening day on July 30 with 430,000 admissions to become the fastest 2025 release to break one million tickets over the weekend.
Even "F1," in its sixth weekend, saw its biggest Saturday yet with 158,633 admissions, topping its opening Saturday's 146,966 in defiance of typical box office patterns.
Heavy hitters wait in the wings for the second half of 2025. Auteur Park Chan-wook's "No Other Choice," starring Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin, arrives in September fresh from this year's Venice competition.
Set for release at the end of the year, Hollywood sequels "Avatar: Fire and Ash" and "Zootopia 2" could provide major boosts as well.
The previous "Avatar" film drew 10.8 million admissions in 2022-2023 despite a slow COVID-19 pandemic recovery, while the original "Zootopia" sold 4.7 million tickets in 2016 with limited marketing.