At a policy proposal news conference held Thursday morning at the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy’s Neutinamu Hall in Seoul, participants including Korea Scenario Writers Association Chairman Kim Byeong-in, Nainus Entertainment CEO Kim Seung-beom, attorney Park Kyung-shin, Korea Film Producers Association Vice President Park Kwan-su, director Yang Woo-seok, Korea Film Producers Association Chairman Lee Eun and animation producer Hwang Kyung-sun said the industry faces a structural crisis and needs institutional reform and investment support.
Kim said that in 2025 South Korea released fewer than 30 commercial films with net production costs exceeding 3 billion won. “It’s hard to even recall the early-to-mid 2000s, when we made more than 100 films and achieved a renaissance,” he said, adding, “It feels like watching the collapse of Hong Kong’s film industry in the late 1990s.”
Yang said the crisis is often attributed to the roughly two-year pandemic period starting in 2020 and Netflix’s push into home viewing, but he argued South Korea’s weak recovery compared with other countries stems from a fragile industrial structure. He said admissions fell from about 230 million in 2019 to 106 million as of the end of 2025, or 46% of the earlier level.
The coalition also opposed a controversial proposal to legislate a “holdback” period. The amendment sponsored by Democratic Party lawmaker Lim Oh-kyung would allow films to be released on follow-on platforms such as IPTV and OTT services only after six months have passed since the end of their theatrical run. Speakers argued that a six-month gap between theaters and IPTV is not a holdback but effectively a blackout.
Park said the news conference was not held to support Lim’s bill. “This amendment should be fully withdrawn. It’s not a normal holdback bill; it’s a blackout bill,” he said. Park said protecting a film’s theatrical run matters, and argued it could be achieved by introducing limits on screen concentration.
As an alternative, the coalition proposed a system to prevent theater chains from allocating an excessive share of seats to one or two films. It said a single film’s share of screens should be capped at 20%. The group said that if such a system takes hold, more films would remain in theaters longer and holdback periods between platforms could normalize naturally. It also said film profitability could improve and, over time, theater revenue could recover.
Park said theaters’ worsening revenue is not due to holdbacks but to market concentration and vertical integration that have led to consumers and business partners being treated poorly. He said theaters should start by lowering ticket prices and screening a wider range of films, adding that distributors and producers would have less reason to rush films to other platforms if they are performing well in theaters.
The coalition said holdbacks should apply only when theaters show a willingness to keep films on screens and should serve as a rule that protects that effort. It said Lim’s amendment should be scrapped because it reflects the views of major theater chains without collecting opinions from the broader film industry.
Lee said Lim’s intent in proposing the amendment appeared positive, but he argued it was drafted without a close look at the industry and should be discarded. On the proposed 20% cap, Lee said that in the past it was considered desirable for a film not to exceed 30%, but the coalition is now calling for 20%, adding that the figure should be adjusted through discussions that include theaters and distributors.
Citing overseas examples, Lee pointed to Japan to argue for a long-run screening structure. He said it took more than six months for “Kokuhou” to draw 10 million moviegoers in Japan, while “The Man Who Lives With the King” surpassed 10 million in four weeks. Lee said theaters are focused on boosting revenue by reducing other films’ shares, warning that without reasonable limits on screen concentration, irreversible situations could repeat.
Speakers also called for expanding investment alongside institutional reforms. They said that with average production costs for commercial films exceeding 10 billion won, there is an urgent need to create large funds in the 100 billion won range as well as mid-sized funds. They said film funds backed only by the government’s fund-of-funds have limits, and proposed that the government act as an anchor investor and provide tax benefits to attract private capital.
The coalition said the industry’s slump reflects not only falling admissions but broader structural problems, and argued that limits on screen concentration and expanded financing should be discussed before legislating holdbacks. It urged the government and the National Assembly to consider the proposals in future legislative and policy discussions.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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