Korea box office admissions down 1.6% in 2024 as local titles dominate

South Korea’s box office admissions dipped 1.6% in 2024 while local productions recorded a significant rise in market share across the year.

There were 123 million admissions in 2024, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service. This is down on the 125.1 million admissions recorded in 2023, which had marked an 11% rise on 2022 as the country continued to attract cinemagoers back to theatres after the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The latest figures highlight that admissions remain 45.6% below pre-pandemic 2019, which had ranked as South Korea’s all-time highest box office year in terms of admissions and gross.

Total box office takings in 2024 was $812.3m, a 5.6% drop year-on-year.

Success came in the form of local features, which claimed 58% of the annual market share – a significant rise from 48.6% in 2023. Seven of the top ten films at the box office this year were South Korean productions, spearheaded by Jang Jae-hyun’s supernatural thriller Exhuma and the action blockbuster The Roundup: Punishment. There were also some local unexpected successes including Pilot and Firefighters, which managed to attract audiences through strong word-of-mouth despite challenges.

US productions claimed a 32% market share was taken by US productions, trailed by Japan with 5%. In 2023, US films accounted for 35% of the market while Japanese features took 14.1%.

Sequels and remakes featured prominently at 2024’s Korean box office, including Veteran sequel I, The Executioner and the fourth instalment of The Roundup series starring Don Lee. As the lingering effects of Covid-19 are very much still palpable within the industry, this reliance on established franchises seems to signal a cautious approach by investors seeking safer, proven material over riskier, original stories.

Another notable trend appears to be a fading distinction between peak and off-peak seasons. Traditionally, the summer months have been the primetime for tentpole releases in Korea, as seen last year with box office hits Smugglers and Concrete Utopia, both released in July. In contrast, 2024 bucked this trend, with Exhuma and The Roundup: Punishment opting for April debuts.

Despite their off-season releases, both films managed to surpass the 10 million admission milestone, a critical benchmark for success in the Korean film market. This shift away from seasonal box office patterns may reflect changing audience preferences, with viewers prioritising quality content over release timing.

Looking ahead, there is mounting concern over the lack of investment in the domestic film industry. Over the past year, many production companies depleted their stockpile of “storage films”, which were held back due to the pandemic, potentially leaving a void in the release pipeline for 2025 and beyond.

The Busan Film Council also reported a sharp decline in its support for films in 2024, during which it backed just 74 projects (17 of which were features). This is a 37% drop from the previous year’s 118 films, and the lowest figure since 2012.

Adding to the turbulence, major South Korean entertainment firm CJ ENM is undergoing its second consecutive year of restructuring within its film division, further underscoring volatility and the struggle for films to perform at the box office at a time when streaming platforms are becoming ever more popular. According to a survey from the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca), 89.3% of people said they had used a streaming platform within the past year.

Meanwhile, recent political disruption and the plane crash at Muan airport have placed temporary halts on film releases and promotions.

South Korea box office 2024