Comedy is dominating Korean theaters this year, signaling a shift in audience taste. From “My Daughter Is a Zombie,” the year’s biggest box-office hit, to “The First Ride,” which recently broke the winning streak of Japanese anime films, moviegoers are turning to laughter as the genre leading the post-summer box office.
As the Korean film industry grapples with a domestic market increasingly dominated by streaming services, production companies are aggressively pivoting toward international markets. This strategic shift aims to secure the stability of Korean cinema by broadening its global footprint and leveraging the immense popularity of Korean content worldwide.
It's almost a truism at this point to say that movie theaters are in deep trouble, and Thursday's midyear report from the Korean Film Council confirmed that yet again with hard numbers. According to the report, box office revenue declined 33 percent year-on-year to 408 billion won ($293 million) in the first half of 2025, with attendance dropping 32.5 percent.