2025 Film Industry Outlook
Lineup of Distributors Including CJ, Lotte, NEW, and Plus M
Fewer Blockbusters Due to Theater Slump, Focus on Carefully Selected Mid-Range Films Only
The new year of 2025 has dawned. This year, the film industry is expected to see a decrease in the number of releases due to sluggish theater attendance and a stagnant production market. Observers note that the market itself has shrunk after five years of downturn. CJ ENM, the largest investment and distribution company, will release only two Korean films this year. While major companies like Lotte Entertainment and Plus M Entertainment, which produced two films that surpassed 10 million viewers, are faring somewhat better, big-budget productions with budgets around 10 billion won remain rare. Leading Korean directors such as the 'master duo' Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, along with Na Hong-jin and Yeon Sang-ho, will consecutively present new works.
'World-Class' Bong and Park Are Coming
Director Bong Joon-ho, who made history in Korean cinema by winning the Palme d'Or at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival and four Oscars at the 92nd Academy Awards with the film Parasite, will present his new work Mickey 17 after six years. Mickey 17 is a blockbuster produced by Hollywood's Warner Bros. with a budget of $105 million (approximately 220.7 billion won), featuring well-known Hollywood actors such as Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo. The story revolves around a clone sent to pioneer an ice-covered space planet and is adapted from the American author Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel Mickey7. Director Bong became interested after reading the unpublished manuscript and decided to make it into a film. It will be released in North America on March 7.
Director Park Chan-wook will present his new film Decision to Leave three years after winning the Best Director award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for Decision to Leave (2022). The story follows office worker Yoo Man-su, who, after being fired, struggles to protect his wife and child and keep the house he painstakingly acquired by seeking reemployment. It is adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax (1999). Park has been working on adapting this novel into a film for a long time. Actor Lee Byung-hun reunites with Park after 20 years since Three... Extremes (2004) to play the protagonist Man-su, with Son Ye-jin co-starring as his wife. Actors Lee Sung-min, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok also appear.
CJ ENM will release Park’s Decision to Leave and The Devil Is Coming as Korean films this year. The Devil Is Coming is the new work of director Lee Sang-geun, who attracted 9.42 million viewers with Exit (2019), and finished filming in 2022. It depicts the story of unemployed Gil-gu, who starts a part-time job monitoring a prophetic figure who wakes up as a devil every dawn. Actors Im Yoon-ah and Ahn Bo-hyun star. The Hollywood remake of the Korean film Save the Green Planet! (2003), titled Bougainvillea, will also be released. This is a co-production between CJ and Hollywood, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone.
Blockbusters Decline, Number of Films Drops... Small but Quality Hits Expected
Lotte Entertainment is preparing to release seven new films including warehouse films such as Holy Night: Demon Hunters (director Lim Dae-hee) starring Ma Dong-seok, Streaming (director Jo Jang-ho) starring Kang Ha-neul, Omniscient Reader (director Kim Byung-woo) starring Lee Min-ho and Ahn Hyo-seop, Jeongga’s Ranch (director Kim Ji-hyun) starring Ryu Seung-ryong and Park Hae-joon, and Resurrection Man (director Baek Jong-yeol) starring Koo Kyo-hwan and Shin Seung-ho.
NEW will release the occult film The Black Nuns (director Kwon Hyuk-jae) starring Song Hye-kyo on the 24th of this month. It is a sequel to The Priests (2015) starring Kang Dong-won and Kim Yoon-seok. The film My Daughter Who Became a Zombie (director Pil Gam-sung), featuring actors Jo Jung-suk and Lee Jung-eun, will also meet audiences this year.
Plus M Entertainment will open the year with Secret That Cannot Be Told (director Seo Yoo-min), starring Do Kyung-soo (D.O.), Won Jin-ah, and Shin Ye-eun, adapted from the Taiwanese film of the same name released in 2008. The anticipated work is director Na Hong-jin’s sci-fi thriller Hope, his first new film in nine years since The Wailing (2016), starring Hwang Jung-min, Jo In-sung, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander. Alongside this, they will release the comedy mystery Unemployed Apartment, Opposition Party (director Hwang Byung-guk) starring Kang Ha-neul and Yoo Hae-jin, Pavane (director Lee Jong-pil) starring Go Ah-sung and Byun Yo-han, and Yeon Sang-ho’s independent film Face featuring Park Jung-min and Kwon Hae-hyo.
Showbox will present five films including Lobby, directed by actor Ha Jung-woo, Far Future Us (director Kim Do-young) starring Koo Kyo-hwan, Heavy Snow (directors Park Seon-woo and Hong Ui-jung), and Toemalok, an animated film adapted from the fantasy novel of the same name.
(Clockwise) Actors Hwang Jung-min, Jo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon from the movie 'Hope', and director Na Hong-jin. Provided by Sam Company, IOK Company, Saram Entertainment, Forged Films.
Barunson E&A, a latecomer in investment and distribution, will release Broken (director Kim Jin-hwang) starring Ha Jung-woo and Kim Nam-gil on February 5, along with CSAT, The Secret of the Exam (director Lee Yong-jae). Studio Santa Claus Entertainment is preparing Sister (director Jin Sung-moon) starring Jung Ji-so and Lee Soo-hyuk, Killing Time (director Jang Jun-yeop) starring Ryu Hye-young and Nam Yoon-su, and Regular Restaurant (director Han Jae-i), planned and produced by actor Ma Dong-seok. By4M Studio will release Hitman (director Choi Won-seop) on the 22nd of this month, along with the horror thriller Noise (director Kim Soo-jin), Upstairs Neighbors (working title), directed and starring Ha Jung-woo, and Number One (working title) starring Choi Woo-shik.
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