Home > Business > Industry

CGV closes its LA location, marking end of U.S. theater business's 15-year run

Published: 24 Sep. 2025, 17:53

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

A notice on CGV's website announcing the closure of its Los Angeles branch [SCREEN CAPTURE]

CGV has closed its last remaining North American location in Los Angeles, marking the end of its U.S. theater business after a 15-year run.

“After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close CGV LA,” a notice on the CGV LA branch’s website read. "Our final day of operations will be Sept. 21. We greatly appreciate your support throughout the years.”

This means the theater's final day of operations was Sunday.

CGV expanded its theater business into the North American market in 2010. In June of that year, it opened a three-screen, 600-seat location in Los Angeles, followed by an eight-screen, 1,187-seat location in Buena Park in January 2017.

In September 2021, CGV opened a large theater in downtown San Francisco with 14 screens, bringing its total number of theaters in North America to three.

However, due to declining theater attendance and business difficulties following the Covid-19 pandemic, CGV decided to close its San Francisco location in February 2023 and the Buena Park location in March this year.

With audiences declining due to the influx of streaming services, the company concluded that operating theaters alone was unprofitable, shifting its strategy to providing the technology needed to operate more specialized theaters to other multiplexes.

CJ 4DPLEX, CGV parent company CJ’s theater simulation technology arm, achieved its highest-ever revenue in the North American market in the first half of this year. From January to June of this year, CJ 4DX and ScreenX theaters generated a total of $55 million in North American box office revenue, a 47 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

In particular, 4DX recorded $35 million in revenue, a 51 percent increase compared to the first half of last year. Globally, CJ 4DX Plex operates a total of 1,212 theaters, including 772 4DX and 439 ScreenX theaters.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]