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Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Movies and TV devider Korean cinema industry posts worst post-pandemic performance in 2025

Korean cinema industry posts worst post-pandemic performance in 2025

Published Jan 4, 2026 04:19 pm
The films "F1" and "Movie: My Daughter is a Zombie" (Photos from KOBIS)
The films "F1" and "Movie: My Daughter is a Zombie" (Photos from KOBIS)

The Korean cinema industry continued its slump in 2025, posting the worst performance in the post-pandemic era. 

Data from the Korea Box-office Information System (KOBIS), run by the  Korean Film Council (KOFIC) showed in 2025, 1,744 Korean and foreign films were released in South Korea. 

Last year, cinema admissions in South Korea in 2025 totaled 106.08 million, down 17 million or 13.84 percent compared to 123.12 million in total cinema admissions in 2024. 

Total cinema gross in South Korea in 2025 was at 1.04 trillion won (about $725.78 million), down by 147.54 billion (about $102.27 million) or 12.36 percent compared to 1.19 trillion won ($828.06 million) in 2024. 

Excluding the Covid-19 years of 2020 and 2021, the Korean cinema industry’s performance in 2025 was the worst since 2004, the first year when the cinema receipt tracking was implemented in South Korea. 

In 2025, foreign films released outperformed Korean films. There were 554 Korean films released last year, attracting 43.57 million moviegoers and grossing 419.06 billion won (about $290.49 million). 

In comparison, there were 1,190 foreign films released in South Korea in 2025, drawing 62.51 million moviegoers and grossing 627.92 billion won (about $435.28 million). 

By revenue share in 2025 in South Korea, foreign films had 58.9 percent while Korean films had 41.1 percent. 

Cinema admissions and grosses by year in South Korea

2022 - 1,774 (total films released) / 1,160,213,494,400 won (gross) / 112,805,095 (total admissions) 

2023 - 1,539 / 1,261,412,017,092 won / 125,136,265

2024 - 1,422 / 1,194,535,533,963 won / 123,125,371

2025 - 1,744 / 1,046,990,009,980  won / 106,088,895

In KOFIC’s 2023 Movie Consumer Behavior Survey conducted among 3,000 respondents aged 14 to 69 in South Korea, “there are no movies to watch” was the No. 1 reason (24.8 percent) for not going to cinemas followed by ticket price (24.2 percent).

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