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CJ CGV now operates 500 theaters around the world. CJ CGV has announced that it achieved this milestone with the recent opening of CGV Dongguan Guomao (东莞国贸) in Guangdong Province, China. The exhibitor’s 112th cinema in China, the CGV Dongguan Guomao multiplex comprises 12 screens, including 4DX, ScreenX, IMAX or Gold Class premium theaters, for a total of 1,715 seats.

CJ CGV plans to add 14 more branches overseas within the year, notably in Guangzhou (China), Chengdu (China), Hanoi (Vietnam), Haiphong (Vietnam), Probolinggo (Indonesia) and Madiun (Indonesia). The company aims to operate 514 sites and 3,756 screens by the end of the year. This number should even go over 4,500 if we include all the screens across the world equipped with the 4DX and ScreenX technologies that CGV has been promoting on the global stage. 

CJ CGV has reached this milestone 20 years after opening its first site in Gangbyeon, Seoul, in 1998. The company entered the Chinese market in 2006, before moving to the US in 2010, Vietnam in 2011, Indonesia in 2013, Myanmar in 2014, and Turkey in 2016. It took CGV 9 years to open its 100th branch abroad, in 2015, but the number of locations saw a drastic growth in the next three years, representing a 3.5-fold increase. Since 2016, following its acquisition of Turkey’s exhibitor Mars, CGV operates more theaters abroad than in Korea. Its international revenues are also on course to outstrips its domestic sales.

CGV’s international expansion seems to be the result of strategies specific to each country it entered, on top of its know-how in running theaters and the quality of its service. In China, CGV had a marketing campaign tailor-made for its customers every month for the past year, while in Vietnam, it launched U22, a membership program aimed at people 22 years old or younger. In Turkey, CGV managed to increase its sales thanks to its decision to expand the geographical reach of its premium cinemas, and in particular Gold Class theaters. In Indonesia, the company has multiplied initiatives that proved successful in attracting customers, such as a “Sports Hall” where people can enjoy basketball and futsal, a “CGV Kitchen” for casual dining, and “Cine Music”, events combining short movies and live band performances.

“The number of theaters we operate abroad has now surpassed that of our local branches, and our international revenues also seem set to exceed our local income next year”, said CHOI Byung-hwan, CEO of CJ CGV. “In the years to come, we will look beyond the quantitative growth and embrace our role as a platform for the diffusion of Korean culture”.