Every time the 'Korean Cinema Crisis' tteokbap (hot topic) comes up, people say that attendance tanked because K-movies got worse than before. The narrative is that *only* K-movies are failing because they suck, while well-made foreign films are crushing it.
Statistically speaking, though, the results are different.
Pre-COVID 2017 Total 219.87M K-Films 113.90M (51.8%) Int'l Films 105.97M (48.2%) - US Films 89.59M (40.8%) - J-Films 8.73M (4%) 2018 Total 216.38M K-Films 110.14M (50.9%) Int'l Films 106.24M (49.1%) - US Films 98.42M (45.5%) - J-Films 3.05M (1.4%) 2019 Total 226.67M K-Films 115.62M (51%) Int'l Films 111.05M (49%) - US Films 105.28M (46.5%) - J-Films 2.16M (1%)
These are the stats for K-Films vs. International Films before COVID. Annually, slightly over 200 million viewers came to theaters, with K-films and international films splitting the pie roughly 50/50. So, what do the stats look like post-2022, as things normalized after COVID?
2022 Total 116.02M K-Films 62.79M (55.7%) Int'l Films 53.23M (44.3%) - US Films 44.21M (39.2%) - J-Films 4.38M (3.9%) 2023 Total 125.13M K-Films 60.75M (48.6%) Int'l Films 64.38M (51.4%) - US Films 43.80M (35%) - J-Films 17.65M (14.1%) 2024 Total 123.12M K-Films 71.47M (58.1%) Int'l Films 51.65M (41.9%) - US Films 42.70M (34.7%) - J-Films 6.51M (5.3%) 2025 (Jan 1st - Dec 13th) Total 96.84M K-Films 42.46M (43.8%) Int'l Films 54.38M (56.2%) - US Films 36.73M (37.9%) - J-Films 15.23M (15.7%)
It's super erratic. Sometimes K-films show almost 60% market share—higher than pre-COVID—and sometimes they drop hard, hovering around the 40% range.
What's clear is that the annual demand for theaters has shrunk drastically, from over 200 million down to the low 100 million range. Since international films have shrunk by the same ratio, the analysis that 'K-films are failing because they suck' is flat-out wrong.
Look at the Mission Impossible series alone: there's a huge gap between 5 (6.12M) and 6 (6.58M) released pre-COVID, versus 7 (4.02M) and 8 (3.39M) released afterward. The Fast & Furious series is also way off: 7 (3.24M) and 8 (3.65M) compared to 9 (2.29M) and 10 (1.77M).
Can we seriously argue that 7 & 8 flopped just because they were worse than 5 & 6, or that 9 & 10 were worse than 7 & 8?
Also, the biggest reason the market share between K-films and International films fluctuates so wildly year-to-year is because of Japanese movies.
In 2022 and 2024, when K-film share was high, there were no massive Japanese hits (2022 J-film share 3.9%, 2024 J-film share 5.3%). Conversely, in 2023 and 2025, huge hits came out, significantly boosting the overall foreign film share (2023 J-film share 14.1%, 2025 J-film share 15.7%).
In 2023, it was *Suzume* and *Slam Dunk*. In 2025, it was *Demon Slayer* and *Chainsaw Man* that crushed it, while 2022 and 2024 lacked those massive hits.
It's true that Japanese films have become a *megi* (catfish/disruptor) in the theater scene, but unlike K-films and US films, which consistently have demand and can reliably draw a certain number of viewers, J-films are highly volatile year-to-year. The downside is we don't know if they can maintain this level of share next year.
My personal analysis of the current theater situation is this:
1. OTT became mainstream, and Netflix, Disney, TVING, and Wavve are all dropping dramas like crazy every month, soaking up all the basic media demand. Not only is the price better, but the Korean series content itself is often more fun than theater movies, so why bother going to the cinema?
2. Some people say it’s just because K-films suck, but foreign films are also collectively tanking hard. If it was only because K-films were trash, why would that be happening? Theater demand itself has plummeted, and while ticket prices matter, it's not just about being expensive—point 1 is the massive factor. OTT is cheaper, so it wins out.
3. 'If you build it well, it will succeed?' Nah. What succeeds is what's trendy. Only movies that trend on SNS, Instagram, etc., with people saying 'you HAVE to watch this,' actually hit—and that doesn't guarantee they were well-made. Plenty of K-films got decent critic scores (3.5–4.0), but if they didn't catch viral buzz (*ipsomun*), they tanked. Conversely, do you think *The Outlaws* (or maybe zombie flicks) succeeded because they were masterpieces?
"It's the ultimate chicken-or-the-egg debate: Did movies get worse, or did streaming just destroy the entire concept of going to the cinema? Either way, everyone agrees that the 200M attendance era is dead and buried."
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