Almost collapsed': behind the Korean film crisis and why K-pop isn't immune

"Admissions for Korean and international films have fallen 45% since 2019, from about 226 million to 123 million, while box office revenue has dropped from $1.3bn to $812m. With investment slowing sharply, Korean distributors that once released more than 40 locally produced films a year are expected to put out about only 20 in 2025, and warn that 2026 could be even more serious as the pandemic-era backlog runs out and new productions are not coming fast enough."

"Kim Han-min, director of the Yi Sun-sin trilogy, delivered the bluntest warning when he told lawmakers last year that the sector had almost collapsed. A scene from Bong Joon-ho's Oscar award-winning film Parasite. Photograph: BFA/Alamy Jason Bechervaise, a professor of Korean film at Hanyang University, sees not a short-term slump but a structural weakening. Years of tightening margins and rising costs have thinned out the mid-budget productions where new directors once developed and established film-makers experimented, he says."

"Years of tightening margins and rising costs have thinned out the mid-budget productions where new directors once developed and established film-makers experimented, he says. Much of the talent pipeline is now moving toward streaming platforms, where investment is steadier and production schedules more predictable. The theatrical holdback window the period between a cinema release and a film's arrival on streaming has also shortened to just a few weeks for many titles, leaving audiences with little reason to buy a ticket."

South Korea's cultural exports reached a record $15.18bn in 2024, driven by global success in music and film. Cinema admissions have fallen 45% since 2019 and box-office revenue dropped from $1.3bn to $812m. Investment is slowing, and the number of locally produced film releases is expected to halve by 2025 with risks of further decline in 2026. Mid-budget films and the talent pipeline are weakening as creators move toward streaming platforms with steadier investment and predictable schedules. Shortened theatrical holdback windows reduce incentives for cinema attendance, threatening the industry's creative foundations.

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