The long-gestating tie-up would have created Korea's largest theater chain, but talks stalled as Megabox owner JoongAng Group slid into a liquidity crisis.
The planned merger of Lotte Cinema and Megabox, South Korea’s second- and third-largest multiplex chains, has collapsed, ending a 14-month attempt to combine the two companies into the country’s biggest theatrical exhibitor.
Lotte Shopping, the retail conglomerate that controls Lotte Cinema operator Lotte Cultureworks, disclosed in a regulatory filing that its memorandum of understanding with Megabox parent Contentree JoongAng was terminated on June 30. Signed in May 2025, the preliminary agreement was extended three times — in September, December and April — without ever becoming a binding deal.
Neither company gave a reason for walking away, but there was little uncertainty in the Korean industry about the cause. Megabox’s corporate parent is in an open financial crisis: JoongAng Group, the media conglomerate behind the chain, placed five of its units — holding company JoongAng Holdings, Contentree JoongAng, Megabox JoongAng, JoongAng P&I and broadcaster JTBC — into court-supervised rehabilitation in mid-June, days after JTBC defaulted on 20.6 billion won ($13.6 million) in maturing loans.
