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With total admissions for the first half of the year having hit just 42,497,776 marking the lowest since 2004 when the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) started compiling audience numbers, it illustrates just how much viewing habits have changed.

After the Covid-19 pandemic had receded in 2023 there was a hope among many in the industry that it could stage a recovery with hints that it was possibly underway with the success of The Roundup films and titles like 12.12: The Day (2023) and then Exhuma. But the figures for both 2024 that saw admissions down around 45 percent on pre-pandemic levels combined with the data for January-June of 2025 suggest that the industry is in a completely different place than it was in 2019. While countries elsewhere have also struggled to return to numbers seen prior to 2020, Korea’s box office slump feels more pronounced. For instance, the president of France’s National Film Board CNC, Gaëtan Bruel explained at the recent Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) where he was a panelist comparing the French and Korean film industries that France only saw a drop of ten percent compared to the 2010s.

Streaming led by Netflix undoubtedly has transformed viewing habits and Bruel said that longer holdbacks in France had helped entice cinemagoers to return to the cinemas. But short-form content, too, has made the challenge in Korea to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels even greater with audiences consuming much content on YouTube, TikTok and other social media platforms. In Korea, according to a government report published in 2024 that surveyed more than 5,000 citizens, 84.9 percent said they used YouTube – more than double than those who watch content on Netflix (44.4%).  Its reach is significant spanning different demographics both young and old. Strikingly, according to the market research platform Mobile Index, Koreans spend 139 minutes a day on average on YouTube – more than any other platform.

Short-form content that can last just a few seconds to a couple of minutes is among the most popular. A survey put together by the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Association for ICT Promotion showed that the proportion of short-form content people use the most had increased from 58.1 percent to 70.74 percent in 2024.

While there is much focus on competing with the content financed by the major streamers, it’s also evidently a battle to lure back those viewers who consume much of their content on social media platforms. Even the streamers are responding by financing shorter series. The Netflix hit drama The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call starring Ju Ji-hoon was cut down from ten episodes lasting 60 minutes to eight episodes and 45-minutes in duration.  

Still, despite the immense challenges that remain for the multiplexes and studios with investment also showing signs of drying up, there are films that are able to survive in the current marketplace. This week we will take a look at some of the films that have proved popular in the post-pandemic era where short-form content has been a significant draw.  First, we’ll cover The Roundup films before turning to the occult-themed films (Exhuma (2024), Dark Nuns (2025)), remakes (Handsome Guys (2023)) and horror films (Noise (2025)).

The Value of IP (The Roundup Films) 

One of the most notable changes in the current ecosystem is the move away from tentpoles that were once the driving force of the industry. Spectacle driven localized blockbusters ushered in through the success of Shiri (1999) and JSA (2000) would remain a fixture at the box office in the 2000s and 2010s before the era of short-form content. This changed after Covid-19 hit with many higher budget films struggling to secure a return on investment.  A case in point was Choi Dong-hoon’s two-part Alienoid (2022)

A franchise that did take off, however, was The Roundup films with all three titles (The Roundup (2022), The Roundup: No Way Out (2023) and The Roundup: Punishment (2024) selling over 10 million tickets each making it the most successful franchise in Korean cinema history.

The films that feature Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-suk) as an unorthodox detective as he comes up against a nefarious criminal would turn the actor into one of the most bankable stars in the industry. He didn’t only appear in the films – he was also active behind the scenes as a producer and a writer. But given the lackluster performance of Holy Night: Demon Hunters (2025) starring Lee, it would suggest it’s the IP that is the chief selling point - a franchise Don Lee has been central at cultivating in what is an enjoyable an engrossing series. The franchise began with the surprise hit The Outlaws (2017).

Securing lucrative IP or so-called “super IP” has been a focal point of interest for the industry, and this will continue going forward with much content sourced from existing IP such as webtoons. There is much riding on Omniscient Reader: The Prophet (2025) based on the popular webtoon that is released in July.

While the blockbuster era for Korean cinema has possibly come to an end – or at least it’s not driver for the industry that it once was – titles based on existing IP like sequels will play a role in the months and years to come. Hitman 2 (2025) is one of seven titles released this year to have turned a profit. A sequel to Yoon Jae-keun’s megahit Ode to My Father (2014) is reportedly in the planning stages with shooting potentially taking place later on this year.

Occult Films (Exhuma, Dark Nuns)

Korean films dealing with religious and occult themes have continued to pull in the crowds both before and after the pandemic with films including Dark Priests (2015), The Wailing (2016) and Exhuma.

Jang Jae-hyun’s box office smash hit Exhuma generated much buzz for its mix of genres and its exploration of Korean culture, history, and shamanism. Owing to the enduring popularity of Jang’s earlier films that also included Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019) there was much anticipation surrounding the release of his new film but ultimately it was explosive word-of-mouth that took the film over 10 million admissions.

Unlike The Roundup, it wasn’t based on existing IP. The film is emblematic of what has made Korean cinema so appealing domestically and internationally as it follows two shamans played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun, a feng-shui master (Choi Min-sik) and an undertaker (Yoo Hae-jin) who team up to dig up a grave after vengeful spirit begins haunting a Korean American family.

Akin to the shamanistic scene in The Wailing, Jang was able to turn the film’s occult themes into a cinematic adventure making it a feature audiences wanted to see in the multiplexes.

Kwon Hyeok-jae’s Dark Nuns (2024) was further evidence of the appeal of supernatural thrillers. Although the response to the film was much weaker than Exhuma giving it less longevity at the box office, the film was able to break even owing to its strong opening. It sold 1.6 million tickets. The film follows two nuns acted by Song Hye-kyo and Jeon Yeo-been who work together to conduct an exorcism after a boy is possessed by an evil spirit.  

Remakes (Handsome Guys)

One other trend that remains prevalent in the post-pandemic ecosystem are Korean remakes. In 2025 and 2026 several of the films to perform robustly were based on films overseas: Handsome Guys, Pilot (2024), Hear Me: Our Summer (2024), Hidden Face (2024) Secret: Untold Melody (2025).

Prior to 2020, this was also evident with titles including Cold Eyes (2013), Believer (2018) and Intimate Strangers (2018). Korean directors have long been skillful at adapting IP for local audiences, and this is on full display in scintillating fashion in Nam Dong-hyeop’s Handsome Guys that sparked real excitement among fans of the film with admissions building over several weeks. The final tally surpassed 1.7 million tickets. Based on the Canadian film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil by Eli Craig, it centers on two oddball characters played by Lee Sung-min and Lee Hee-joon who create the wrong impression when they move into their European dream house in rural Korea.

Reflective of many of the films that have turned a profit, it’s innovative, cinematic, and yet was not expensive to produce with a budget of 4.6 billion won ($3.4m). Indeed, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is where the industry is heading with KOFIC also announcing the nine medium-budget films that it will support including Byun Young-joo’s Your Target.

Horror Titles (Noise)

One genre that is able to entice audiences back into theaters, especially younger viewers is horror. This has been seen in the US with the Scream reboots, Smile (2022) and M3GAN (2022). There are signs it’s happening in Korea as well with Exhuma and the current hit Noise (2025) that hit 1 million admissions on its second weekend. Jeong Yong-ki’s low-budget The Ghost Station (2023) also broke even selling over 250,000 tickets in the spring of 2023.

It's not surprising given how the collective experience of watching a horror film is part of its appeal rather than watching it on a screen at home, while the lower budgets of horror films make them a tempting prospect. They are also often less than two hours. Kim Soo-jin’s 93-minute Noise that is largely set in apartment complex cleverly exploits space, lighting and sound to make the theater the ultimate venue to watch the film. It’s break-even point of 1 million admissions also further underscores that it’s Korean films with modest budgets that are seeing returns on investment.

Produced by Finecut, a company specializing in international sales, the film stars Lee Sun-bin as a young woman who lives with her sister in an apartment. Her sibling suddenly disappears as mysterious noises send residents over the edge.

Like much Korean genre fare, it combines effective genre thrills with social critique that tackles the issue of sound complaints in Korea’s ubiquitous apartments. The setting that has been exploited in films such as Happy End (1999) Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Apt. (2006), Hide and Seek (2013) and Concrete Utopia (2023) is again home to unusual and gripping events turning the feature into a success story in what is a welcome development for the local film industry.  

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic