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Empty Fanmeeting
Previously, it was pointed out on Korean forums, such as Instiz, that Lee Min-ho is facing serious difficulties in selling tickets for his upcoming fan meeting at Olympic Hall (Seoul, South Korea) in early March. According to related topics, ticket sales for the event opened two weeks ago, yet only about 55% of the 2,500 available seats have been sold. In other words, despite the event being just around the corner, Lee Min-ho has only managed to sell around 1,300 tickets.
This situation also draws comparison between Lee Min-ho and fellow actors of the same generation, Kim Soo-hyun and Lee Jong-suk. In particular, reports indicate that Kim Soo Hyun successfully sold out 4,500 seats for his fan meeting, while Lee Jong-suk, despite being inactive for a long time, has already sold 2,000 tickets for his event. As a result, on social media forums, many fans have voiced concerns over Lee Min-ho’s underwhelming ticket sales, especially since this event is set to kick off his Asia fan meeting tour for the year.
Disastrous Small-screen Return
Beyond his fan meeting concerns, Lee Min-ho has also faced heavy criticism for his recent K-drama “When the Stars Gossip”. In particular, the show not only drew criticisms for its absurd scenes and plotlines, but also got slammed for its ending, all the time maintaining alarmingly low ratings.
In particular, the drama reached its highest rating early on, hitting 3.9% in episode 2, but steadily declined afterward. By episode 15, it plummeted to a disastrous 1.783%, with an average rating of just 2.363% extremely disappointing numbers.
This makes “When The Stars Gossip” one of tvN’s worst-performing weekend dramas in recent years. In fact, since tvN moved its prime-time drama slot from Friday-Saturday to the weekend in 2017, this is only the second time a weekend drama has suffered such a significant drop in viewership.
Adding to the pain, before the premiere of “When the Stars Gossip”, no one could have predicted this outcome, as the project was not only backed by a massive budget of 50 billion won (34 million USD), but also stars two top-tier actors, Gong Hyo-jin and Lee Min-ho.
For Lee Min-ho, this may be the most devastating failure of his acting career. Never before has a drama starring him as the lead fallen into such a humiliating situation—not only hitting rock-bottom ratings but also failing to generate any buzz on social media.
Future Prospects
While the empty fanmeeting and low-rating K-drama are tell-tale signs of a slump, many fans remain optimistic, stating that most actors struggle to even sell 1,000 tickets for a fan meeting, so Lee Min-ho’s fanbase is still somewhat decent. Additionally, some pointed out that “When the Stars Gossip” flopped not because of Lee Min-ho, but rather mostly due to the poor writing of the drama.
Currently, Lee Min-ho has another project set for release this summer the film adaptation of famous web novel “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint”. However, even before its premiere, the movie has already faced heavy criticism for drastic changes that allegedly “destroy” the original story. If this film also flops, 2025 could turn out to be a deeply unfortunate year for Lee Min-ho.