Memorandum of Understanding Signing the Merger of Megabox Central Lotte Culture Works to Visualize Big Deal in the Film Industry
May 08, 2025
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The two companies signed an MOU between shareholders after consultations to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the theater and film businesses. Currently, the Central Group's Contentree Central owns 95.98% of Megabox Central, and Lotte Group's Lotte Shopping owns 86.37% of Lotte Culture Works. The joint venture will be jointly managed by the two companies, and the Fair Trade Commission will conduct a business combination review as quickly as possible to attract new investments.
Megabox Central is composed of ▶ Megabox (movie theater) ▶ Plus M Entertainment (investment distributor) ▶ Playtime Central (indoor kids' theme park), and Lotte Culture Works is composed of ▶ Lotte Cinema (movie theater) ▶ Lotte Entertainment (investment distributor) ▶ Lotte Theater (theater).
Through the merger of the two companies, Chung-Ang Group and Lotte Group plan to boost the competitiveness of their existing theater and film businesses and expand new ones, reinvigorating the local film industry, which has slumped since COVID-19. It is expected to maximize synergy through mergers by securing financial soundness by improving profit and loss and attracting new investment, and strengthening its own competitiveness in advertising sales and movie theater operations by easing competition. In particular, it plans to further accelerate the development of special halls that cannot be experienced in OTT by securing efficient operation and new investment capacity through the elimination of overlapping investments.
As the two companies have a leading position in Korean film production and investment distribution as well as movie theaters, they plan to create synergy in content investment. The goal is to strengthen investment in high-quality new content by utilizing IP secured by each company and accumulated production know-how, and to establish a virtuous cycle structure in which improved profits are reinvested from various angles to revitalize the market.
An official from the Chung-Ang Group said, `The main goal of the merger is to build a sustainable business environment by building a differentiated screening environment, investing in the Korean film market, and securing competitive content.' `The ultimate goal is to revitalize the stagnant Korean film industry and provide quality services to customers.'
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