[Journalism Internship] Climbing out of a hole: Cinemas pivot in unique directions to draw crowds
Published: 31 Dec. 2025, 14:55
![Moviegoers purchase tickets at a theater in central Seoul on Feb. 19. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/31/498e71f9-1bdf-4cad-aee6-ab90fef7e7eb.jpg)
Moviegoers purchase tickets at a theater in central Seoul on Feb. 19. [YONHAP]
Kim Ji-woo, Park Ji-yul, Han Sung-min, Lee Eu-anne
From ice skating to rock climbing, such exciting adventurous activities can now be done under a single roof, but somewhere unexpected: cinemas.
Cinemas are aggressively reinventing themselves as multicultural hubs — offering skating rinks and rock-climbing walls — as they struggle to survive cutthroat competition from the rapid growth of streaming services, referred to as over-the-top (OTT) platforms.
Streaming rises as theaters struggle
The outbreak of Covid-19 has significantly altered the Korean film industry. With the increased tendency to stay indoors, the presence of theaters was disregarded by many audiences. As the number of OTT subscriptions rose over the years, the number of moviegoers has failed to recover the pre-pandemic levels.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the total sales and number of audiences in theaters significantly decreased, according to the 2024 Korean Film Industry Settlement Report by the Korean Film Council. The number of audiences in theaters stood at 123 million in 2024, down approximately 45.8 percent from 227 million moviegoers in 2020, when the pandemic first hit. Accordingly, total film sales declined from approximately 1.9 trillion won ($1.3 billion) to about 1.19 trillion won between 2019 and 2024, representing a drop of around 37.4 percent. These sharp declines illustrate how the outbreak of a global pandemic severely disrupted audience demand for public theaters.
Netflix, which has the largest number of OTT subscriptions in Korea, has increased its monthly active users from 2021 to 2025. In the second quarter of 2021, the number of users stood at 29.84 million, but by the third quarter of 2025, it had surged to 43.88 million, a 47 percent increase that highlights the continued market dominance of Netflix and the growing demand for streaming services in Korea. Other services, such as Tving and Coupang Play, are also showing an increasing trend of monthly active users.
After the outbreak of Covid-19, the entire film industry of Korea shifted from a "theater-friendly" environment to a streaming-oriented model, as audiences became more accustomed to on-demand platforms and studios increasingly prioritized digital releases. This structural change reduced the number of theater visits and weakened box office recovery. The dominance theaters once held in the film industry has not fully returned.
Beyond the screen
The changing film consumption pattern has prompted cinemas to introduce a range of new attractions, transforming theaters into multidimensional entertainment hubs.
CJ CGV, Korea’s largest cinema chain, has presented a plan called "NEXT CGV," transforming into a spatial business operator with its construction of rock-climbing walls and screen golf screens integrated into a wide auditorium space. It specifically presented a partial climbing gym called "Peakers" starting from 2022, proposing its gradual expansion as a more approachable entertainment service, as well as holding "The Approach" golfing event to plan an event aligning with trends to increase audience acquisition.
Another theater company, Megabox, also claimed the title as the first cinema to add ice rinks. It has attained its role in the ice-skating scene by providing a space for free skating, skating programs and professional coaching.
Reactions to this unexpected change bring varying perspectives. Blog reviews of family customers expressed contentment, saying, “Thanks to its location within the movie theater, the rink is highly accessible, and it is well organized overall, from parking to entry, classes and free skating.”
The unstoppable rise of OTT
Despite cinemas’ efforts to attract customers, the rapid growth of the OTT industry shows no signs of slowing. That momentum could accelerate further if Netflix succeeds in acquiring Warner Bros., currently up for sale and at the center of a bidding battle with Paramount.
Warner Bros. owns influential entertainment assets in the United States and Europe, including HBO and Cartoon Network, as well as major intellectual properties like Harry Potter, Powerpuff Girls and DC Comics. If Netflix buys Warner Bros., the cinema industry could lose a significant source of theatrical revenue, as the success of film releases might benefit subscriber retention more than box office performance, according to Prof. Samantha Pelham Kunz of Ohio University.
The film’s short theatrical holdback period is also discouraging moviegoers from visiting cinemas. The holdback period is a contractual length of time that limits the distribution or exhibition outside theaters. In Europe, the average legal holdback period is about six months to a year. Korea currently doesn’t have a legal holdback period for theatrical productions, which allows OTTs to offer streaming services after a few days, or even simultaneously on the release date. In an effort to protect cinemas, Rep. Lim Oh-kyung of the Democratic Party of Korea submitted new legislation for the legal holdback period to the National Assembly this September.
The accessible and diverse distribution of content via OTT diverted the population from consuming movies in cinemas, according to Choi E-jung, a professor at Hannam University’s Department of Visual Communication.
Choi said that the establishment of bold decisions and plans surrounding the price of the tickets, as the current ticket prices are costly, compared to the experience that OTT provides in subscription fees. Compared to 2019, the ticket prices for normal seats in cinemas had increased by about 36 percent, with an average price of 14,000 won. With a lower price, consumers can subscribe to Netflix’s ad-free Standard plan or Disney+’s Premium plan along with access to multiple devices and a long-term subscription.
“It’s expected that the cinemas’ innovative efforts will fulfill the needs of diverse audiences and develop the cinemas into significant cultural hubs,” Choi added.
BY KIM JI-WOO, PARK JI-YUL, HAN SUNG-MIN, LEE EU-ANNE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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