Big Bang’s Taeyang to release new music in April, his label confirms

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “John Wick: Chapter 4” easily outgunned Japanese animation film Suzume to claim top spot at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. The American action title earned $4.05 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a nearly 50% market share, continuing a polarization or clustering around a single title that has become familiar of late in Korea, a market that formerly had greater diversity and width. Over the five days since its Wednesday opening, “John Wick 4” earned $5.87 million.

There is absolutely no stopping “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” At a time when many blockbusters in the post-shutdown box office are taking drops of over 60% in their second weekend, the Universal/Illumination animated film is dropping just 45% for an Illumination record $80 million in its second weekend.

After weeks of speculation, Cannes Delegate General Thierry Frémaux confirmed Thursday morning that Sam Levinson’s Euphoria follow-up The Idol will screen out-of-Competition at the festival.

After weeks of speculation, Cannes Delegate General Thierry Frémaux confirmed Thursday morning that Sam Levinson’s Euphoria follow-up The Idol will screen out-of-Competition at the festival.

(G)I-DLE are set to make a comeback with new music next month.(G)I-DLE’s agency CUBE Entertainment announced today that the group are currently working on new music, aimed for release next month. “(G)I-DLE is currently in preparation for their new album scheduled to release in May,” the agency told Korea JoongAng Daily.(G)I-DLE’s forthcoming comeback will be the follow-up to their first studio album ‘I Never Die’, which featured the chart-topping single ‘Nxde’.

BLACKPINK member Lisa is set to feature on ‘Down to Earth’, the upcoming album from Taeyang of Big Bang.Today (April 12), South Korean news outlet Osen reported that the Thai-born K-pop idol would appear as a featured artist on Taeyang’s upcoming release. The publication also reported that Lisa would appear in a music video for the unnamed song.Part of the report has since been confirmed by Taeyang’s agency, The Black Label, in a statement to Xsportsnews.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation “Suzume” held on to top spot for a fifth consecutive weekend at the South Korean box office, as Korean-produced sports film “Rebound” proved to be misnamed. Arriving only in second place, “Rebound” failed to provide any bounce to the beleaguered cinema sector, leaving the weekend as the lowest scoring this year.

Manchester United are among several clubs eyeing Napoli defender Kim Min-jae amid news of the centre-back's £39million release clause, according to reports.

Suga, a member of K-pop boyband BTS, as made the full version of both his ‘Agust D’ mixtape available on streaming services for the first time.The K-pop idol’s debut mixtape ‘Agust D’, which was released in 2016, is now available in full on major streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Prior to this, the songs ‘Intro : DT sugA’ and ‘Agust D’ had been unavailable to stream due to an sample clearance issue with James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’.In addition, Suga’s second mixtape ‘D-2’ has also been released on South Korean steaming platforms sich as Melon and FLO for the first time.

Mijoo of girl group Lovelyz is set to make her solo debut.On April 3, Mijoo’s agency Antenna announced to South Korean media in a press release that the 28-year-old singer will be releasing solo music next month.“Mijoo is making the final touches to her solo debut in May,” said the agency, per KoreaJoongAngDaily. “We ask for your love and support for the new side of Mijoo that will show through her as a solo singer.”The announcement comes almost a year after Antenna first confirmed that Mijoo would make her solo debut.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” landed into second place at a depressed South Korean box office with a market share barely a fifth that of chart leader “Suzume.” The Japanese animation film earned $4.46 million in its fourth week of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). While that was a 26% week-on-week drop, its hold on the chart remained at over 60%. Since releasing on March 8, it has grossed $29.9 million, making it the second highest film of the year in Korea – behind another Japanese animation “The First Slam Dunk” on $35.1 million. “D&D” was the weekend’s top-placed new release and earned $958,000 for a 13% market share. Over the full five days since its opening on Wednesday, it achieved $1.36 million.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that striker Darwin Nunez is in contention for tomorrow lunchtime's Premier League showdown with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Mubi is adding over 50 features from the Sony Pictures’ library to its U.S. streaming service. The mix of studio and arthouse fare includes Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich and films from Wes Anderson, Pedro Almodovar and Guillermo Del Toro.

HYBE Labels subsidiary ADOR, home to K-pop girl group NewJeans, have opened online auditions for a potential new boyband.Today (March 28), ADOR unveiled several posters and videos on social media and YouTube announcing its ‘The Real Hype Boys’ audition. The label will be accepting online auditions on ador.world from now until 1pm KST on April 14.An unnamed male trainee as well as the members of NewJeans feature in the promotional video for the auditions, which details the online application period and host countries where in-person auditions will take place.Per ADOR’s guidelines, the auditions are open to boys born between 2004-2012.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation film “Suzume” made just shy of $50 million on its opening weekend in mainland Chinese theaters. Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, shows “Suzume” grabbing the top spot at the box office with $49.6 million (RMB342 million) between Friday and Sunday. That is the biggest opening score by any film this year outside of the Chinese New Year holiday week in late January. The next best is “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which opened with $19.4 million in mid-February. Directed by Shinkai Makoto, “Suzume” was a hit in Japan where it was released late last year and has remained on screens for a $105 million total. It played in February at the Berlin Film Festival, where it came away largely empty-handed, but has subsequently performed strongly in the Asian territories where it has released. (In South Korea, where it is now the second highest grossing film released in 2023, its third weekend is its strongest to date.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hit Japanese animation “Suzume” improved its box office performance in its third week of release in South Korea and remained far ahead of all competing titles. “Suzume” earned $6.06 million over the weekend between Friday and Sunday, a 7% increase on its previous weekend, itself a strong hold that almost equalled its opening session. Data is sourced from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film, which has been a huge hit in Japan and some other Asian territories, enjoyed a 66% share of the entire Korean cinema box office over the most recent weekend and expanded its cumulative haul to $23.9 million after 19 days on release.

Just weeks after bandmate j-hope made UK Official Chart history, BTS star Jimin scores the group's biggest solo success to date.

according to the trade body IFPI.In addition, sales of physical formats rose by 4%, generating $4.6bn (£3.7bn) in revenues. Almost half of that figure (49.8%) came from Asia, where buying CDs and vinyl as souvenirs is a staple of the “idol” culture of Japan and South Korea.Performance royalties also rose by 8.6% to $2.5bn (£2.04bn), surpassing pre-pandemic levels.However, record labels are pushing for prices to rise to increase the industry’s income from streaming services.

TWICE have announced six new shows in North America and Australia for their upcoming ‘Ready To Be’ world tour.Today (March 23), the popular K-pop girl group announced on Twitter that they are adding two new shows to the Australian legs of their ‘Ready To Be’ tour. They include a second Sydney show on May 2, as well as a follow-up Melbourne concert on May 7.As for the North American leg of TWICE’s upcoming world tour, it will see the addition of four new stops – three in the US and one in Canada.

Harry Styles is a global phenomenon. While not everyone may understand it, there's no denying the impact the former One Direction star has on his fans.