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I Took Another Look at the Second-Half Release Calendar
For theater animation fans, checking the second-half release schedule is a small ritual. You need to know when ticket sales open for your favorite films, and you can’t miss special screenings or first-week bonuses. But as of July 28, 2026, there’s one striking feature in the officially announced domestic releases. Japanese animation dates and months are popping up one after another, but finding a precise second-half release date for a new Korean feature-length animation is tough.
The biggest thing to watch out for here is not mixing up Japanese local release dates with Korean ones. July 17 for ‘The Fireworks, the Promise, and You’ is the Japanese release date, and based on currently available data, no Korean theater release date has been announced. July 24 for ‘Chiikawa: The Secret of the Mermaid Island’ is also a Japanese schedule. Korean distributor Daewon Media announced a domestic release around the end of September, but the exact date isn’t out yet.
Even if a film opens in both countries during the same summer, the dates can differ by weeks or months. If you see a Japanese poster in fan communities and take it as the domestic release date, you’re likely to get the ticketing schedule wrong. If you’re waiting for a foreign work, it’s better to first check the distributor and country markings at the bottom of the poster.
Especially with Japanese release posters circulating on SNS first, there are cases where even official import to Korea hasn’t been confirmed. So until the domestic distributor makes an official announcement, it’s wise to treat the phrase ‘scheduled for release’ with caution.
August and September Are Already Booked by Japanese Works
One of the films with a confirmed domestic schedule is ‘Given: The Movie – To the Sea’. It’s the final chapter of the ‘Given’ anime, released in Japan in 2024, and is set for a Megabox exclusive release in Korea on August 26, 2026. The story unfolds the emotions of Mafuyu and Ritsuka, who are at a crossroads just before the band’s major debut, all through music. Domestic fans have waited about two years since the Japanese release.
‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle’ is also returning to theaters in August. This film opened in Korea with subtitles in August 2025, and a Korean dub followed in September of the same year. Distributor Aniplus announced a special screening in August 2026 to mark the first anniversary of the Korean release. It’s not a completely new film, but for fans who want the bonuses and the big-screen experience again, it’s an important date.
Late September is expected to see ‘Chiikawa: The Secret of the Mermaid Island’ debut on Korean screens. Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi are lured by the promise of high pay and head to Mermaid Island. Despite the cute character images, the original episodes carry tension and a strange atmosphere. But the exact Korean release date hasn’t been revealed yet, so at this stage, writing ‘scheduled for late September’ is the safest bet.
So the August and September screens are already being filled in order by three Japanese works.
Early-Year Domestic Animation Performance Was Mixed
It’s not like Korean theater animations were completely absent this year. On January 14, ‘The Haunted House: 10th Anniversary – Summon Again’ opened. It’s a film celebrating the tenth birthday of ‘The Haunted House’, which started as a TV series in 2016, and is the fourth theatrical installment. It tells the story of Hari, now a college student, and Shinbi, now a global star, reuniting to face the revived Great Demon of the Underground.
According to reports citing the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network for theater tickets, the film drew about 340,000 cumulative viewers. That’s not a small number, but compared to the series’ highest-grossing film, 2019’s ‘The Haunted House: The Sky Goblin vs Jormungand’ with about 890,000 viewers, the gap is huge. The symbolism of the 10th anniversary and the first-day series record weren’t enough to guarantee long-term box office success.
The very next day, January 15, director Kim Bo-sol’s independent feature animation ‘The Square’ also opened. Set in Pyongyang, it depicts the love between a Swedish diplomat and a North Korean traffic police officer, and started as a feature project at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. Unlike the family franchise ‘The Haunted House’, this was an independent animation targeting adult audiences. The two films showed how different the audience base and distribution scale can be, even for Korean animations.
The fact that a franchise theatrical film and an independent animation opened side by side in the same month itself shows that domestic animation production isn’t stuck in just one approach.
‘In Production’ and ‘Release Confirmed’ Are Different Things
So, is there really no new domestic work in the second half? What I can say now is not ‘none’, but ‘no official confirmation of a precise theater release date’. Animation can take a long time from when production news surfaces to the actual release date. Even after production wraps, there are still investment and distribution contracts, video rating reviews, and adjustments to screening times considering competing films.
There are domestic projects like ‘Magic Thousand Character Classic Zero: The Movie’ where production news and a summer vacation release target have been shared. But a target period and a confirmed date are not the same information. If no specific domestic release date and ticketing schedule are confirmed by the end of July, articles should distinguish between ‘in production’ or ‘release target’. Writing ‘confirmed’ and then having the schedule slip only confuses readers.
Also, there are works like ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2’ where a second-half release date is known, but it’s not a theatrical film. This is an animation series releasing on Netflix. When organizing a theatrical lineup, you need to check whether it’s a film or a series, and whether it’s a theater release or a streaming release. From a fan’s perspective, they’re all anticipated animations, but the distribution windows are completely different.
Three Things to Check Before the Date
Looking only at the confirmed domestic theater schedule for the second half, Japanese animations are filling the slots first. ‘Given: The Movie – To the Sea’ is set for August 26, ‘Chiikawa: The Secret of the Mermaid Island’ is guided for late September, and ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ is preparing for a special screening in August. On the other hand, new domestic works have production news and target periods but lack specific release date announcements.
However, interpreting this as a halt in Korean animation production would be a mistake. Feature-length theatrical films take years to produce, and even after completion, they may wait for a distribution window. Plus, recently, some works choose OTT or broadcast channels as their first release window instead of theaters, so the theater release calendar alone makes it hard to gauge the entire industry’s movement.
When checking the lineup going forward, just remember three things. First, distinguish between Japanese local release dates and Korean release dates. Second, don’t treat ‘release target’ and ‘release confirmed’ as the same thing. Third, separate theatrical films from streaming series. Whether a new domestic work will appear on the year-end or winter vacation schedule late in the game—that official announcement is the next point for fans to watch.
Sources: Daewon Media domestic release announcement and News1, July 22, 2026; Aniplus announcement and Yonhap News, July 14, 2026; Megabox·Media Castle ‘Given: The Movie – To the Sea’ release guide, July 2026; Korean Film Council integrated computer network for theater tickets; CJ ENM ‘The Haunted House: 10th Anniversary’ official materials; Korean Academy of Film Arts ‘The Square’ official materials.
