As theaters around the world struggle to lure viewers back amid the pandemic, one South Korean cinema chain is testing out a new way to draw people away from streaming shows on their couches back to the big screen — by adding bouldering walls.
The country’s largest multiplex movie chain operator CJ CGV, part of entertainment behemoth CJ Corp., started installing climbing walls in 2021 in one of its multiplexes, Jongno Piccadilly, in central Seoul. It demolished two movie screens to make way for the walls, leaving six screens for movies. The Peakers climbing gym opened its doors in January 2022.
Like theater operators in other countries, CJ CGV saw attendance plummet amid COVID-19, with the company turning unprofitable in 2020. The number of moviegoers in South Korea plunged from 226 million in 2019 to 60 million in 2021, according to the Korean Film Council.