CGV started as Theater Business Team inside CJ CheilJedang in 1995. CJ Golden Village was jointly established in 1996 by CJ Cheil Jedang of South Korea, Orange Sky Golden Harvest of Hong Kong and Village Roadshow of Australia.

However, now it is operated by CJ only as Golden Harvest and Village Roadshow have pulled out of the group. CGV takes its name from the first letters of the joint venture partners at the time of launching; CJ, Golden Harvest (Orange Sky Golden Harvest), and Village Roadshow.

CGV opened the first multiplex in Gangbyeon in 1998. It merged CJ Golden Village and renamed the company to CJ CGV. In December 2004, it became the first theater chain listed on the Korea Stock Exchange.

CGV exceeded an aggregated total of 100 million viewers in 2004. It opened its first digital movies in 2006, SMART PLEX in 2008, 4D PLEX in 2009 and Cine City in 2011.

In 2006, it opened eight sites in China and one in Los Angeles, and took over a major cinema chain in Vietnam. In 2013, CGV had 101 million visitors within one year. It is the fifth cinema company achieving this mark, joining Regal, AMC, Cinemark and Cinepolis.

Today, CJ CGV is the most popular cinema chain in South Korea, with 1,111 screens at 149 locations in South Korea. CGV accounted for 49.5 percent of ticket sales in South Korea as of March 2020.

According to Statista; en.wikipedia