Rumours and Gossip in Korea's Film and TV Sector: Nine Things I Heard in Seoul

Is South Korea's screen content industry at its nadir and set for recovery?

On a short trip to South Korea for a film festival, I recently heard numerous tales of woe and despair from film producers – “we are all living in fear, right now,” one normally level-headed contact told me.

This reflects a poisonous combination of the film and TV sectors’ peculiar circumstances, a stagnant Korean economy and two years of political discord under the recently-deposed president Yoon. But the crisis mentality is being lessened by hopes of forthcoming political and structural change.

It emerged on Monday that Yoon Suk-yeol may be re-arrested this week and soon processed for trial over his attempt to impose martial law in December. But that is not the good news.

Nor am I referring to the current hit status of “KPop Demon Hunters,” the worldwide performance of “Squid Game” S3 or the Korean animation “King of Kings,” which has taken $68 million at the global box office, but has not yet been released in Korea. Nor even the recent comeback concert by Blackpink or the upcoming reunion of BTS.

Instead glimmers of hope come from an appreciation of the country’s new boss, President Lee Jae-myung. It is not just the supposedly Left-leaning media industry that likes him. His nationwide approval ratings have risen. And some folk tell me that he has achieved more in six weeks than Yoon managed in roughly two years in the country’s top job.

The film and TV sectors are looking to Lee for a major helping hand. But nothing beyond this point should be read as certain, policy or even promised. Nevertheless, for future reference, this is what I’m hearing the Korean film and TV folks talking about.

1) Government may be preparing to provide some US$27 million in cinema ticket sales vouchers to boost the theatrical sector. This could be controversial considering that Korea’s movie theatre sector is now essentially a duopoly, CJ-CGV and Lotte Cinema (newly merged with Megabox). Both operators are backed by even larger conglomerates. And back in the day when there were three players, leading chains were investigated on suspicion of abusing their market position.

2) But clearly the Korean cinema space is in pain. Sources tell me that two investment first are looking to sell their minority stakes in CJ-CGV’s Asian businesses. It has it large positions in Indonesia, Vietnam and China as well as smaller one in Myanmar. Under the investors’ prior agreements, CJ-CGV would either be forced to reduce its stake (a so-called ‘drag-along’ rule) by selling to outside operators or investors, or see CJ-CGV buy out the minority investors MBK and Mirae Investment. But its debt levels are already high and it might not have the financial firepower to make such a deal. Indonesia and Vietnam are still cinema industry growth markets. China less so.

3) I hear that the new president’s team has already reached out to the Producers Guild of Korea, KOFIC (and presumably other organisations such as KOCCA) about bringing them in from the Far-Right chill. Depressed government budgets have hurt support for film funding/regulatory bodies like KOFIC and, one step removed, slimmed funding for film festivals. That could mean that festival budgets for 2026 could be increased, after a couple of years of cutbacks.

4) Separately, more government money may be provided for the indie production sector. I have no details and, honestly, this may be wishful thinking.

5) A new ‘contents industry’ ministry may be formed to streamline the current multi-ministerial hodge-podge whereby film and TV is currently split across culture, revenue and telecoms. The new unit could cover film, TV, streaming and, significantly, artificial intelligence (AI).

6) Exports and international outreach are the watchwords for policy makers and private sector companies alike. Both see a domestic malaise – box office in the toilet, TV production numbers down from a 2022 peak that will be difficult to remedy solely by fixing the domestic Korean economy. Co-productions, incentives, ease of doing business, cross-border co-operation and outreach to new markets are all to be encouraged.

7) I hear that an AI policy is being shaped up that could seek to position Korea as a neutral or third centre of power between the giants of China and the US. Already a major player in semiconductors, Korea would likely be trusted especially in Asia.

A bigger push in AI might mean that Korea adopts something of a US model (by which I mean allowing things to things happen first and test alleged transgressions in court later). The contrasting European approach is all about legislating for safety, ownership protection and culture first.

8) Off -topic talk: In the same vein, Korea might be trying to create a new maritime/arctic exploitation hub, inserting itself between the superpowers of the US, China and Russia. This is especially interesting now that the NW Passage is increasingly ice free and open nearly year round. It has been suggested that this hub could take physical form in port and media town Busan.

9) I’ve heard nothing new or concrete about the penetration of K content into China beyond the chatter of the past year. A few in the industry imagine that solid progress could realistically happen in 2026. Korea’s new president may have visited China by then. And China’s leader Xi Jinping has been invited to Korea for the annual APEC conference at the end of October 2025.

I’d like to think the resumption of Korean cultural exports to China is a realistic scenario, but the constant turbulence from Washington and the Middle East mean that forecasting a year ahead in global politics is becoming ever harder.