Celebrating the Korean Entertainment Making a Global Impact

At age 70, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is showing no signs of slowing down.

Richard Kuipers Errors and omissions are standard features of historical dramas everywhere. It is therefore no surprise to find Korean War history being filtered to suit domestic requirements in the three-hour Chinese blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” Nor is it unexpected for U.S.

Rebecca Souw New TV drama “One Ordinary Day,” a Korean adaptation of 2008 BBC series “Criminal Justice,” is just one way that newcomer Coupang Play is pushing its way into South Korea’s ultra-competitive video streaming scene.The market is currently led by Netflix, with Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus as newcomers.

YG Entertainment had reportedly called it quits with girl group 2NE1 after the company was unable to “control” a particular member.On December 17, YouTuber and former entertainment reporter Lee Jin-ho made several claims about the nature of 2NE1’s disbandment back in 2016.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Anupam Tripathi said his grandfather sometimes read his palm and told him he’d be rich one day. His joking response?“Where is my money!”The 33-year-old Tripathi was rightfully doubtful.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korean entertainment-tech firm Kakao Entertainment has acquired Wuxiaworld, a Hong Kong-based online platform for English-language, Asian fantasy fiction.The acquisition was handled through Radish Media, a New York-based Kakao subsidiary that pitches itself as a mobile fiction platform for serialized storytelling. Deal terms were not disclosed.Wuxiaworld boasts millions of page views per day from users in over 100 countries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe death earlier this month of Chin Doo-hwan, the most hated of South Korea’s three military dictators, who ruled for nearly a decade until 1988, is a timely reminder of the foundations of the country’s present economic might.Today, South Korea combines global prowess in electronics, semiconductors and shipbuilding (industries boosted by the old regime’s strategic plans) and in culture and services, such as entertainment, cosmetics and food.

BTS’ Suga for his single ‘You’.In a recent interview with Billboard, ØMI – real name Hiroomi Tosaka – opened up about the release of response to ‘You’, which was produced by BTS’ Suga. The singer credited the South Korean rapper and producer for the success of the track, which was released back in October.“‘You’ has found a global audience, and that’s entirely due to SUGA,” said ØMI, who explained that the K-pop star had “widened the gate” for the song.

topped streaming ratings in over 80 countries within 24 hours of its debut on Nov 19th. This comes right after gruesome Korean drama “Squid Game” also topped the charts, with a staggering 1.65 billion views its first month out.

Space has long been the go-to location for sci-fi projects and it’s easy to see why. A void that is cold, dark, and deadly, outer space thrives as much on the unknown as it does known variables.

EXCLUSIVE: Simon Cowell’s ITV format Walk The Line has started attracting interest from global buyers, according to exec producer Lee McNicholas, who praised South Korean entertainment shows for “ripping up the rulebook” and “forcing us to re-examine the way we approach formats.” Distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment is in conversation with several territories over the sale of six-parter, McNicholas said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Aloners,” a critically-acclaimed debut feature about loneliness, is set to receive a theatrical release in North America in early 2022.

ViacomCBS and CJ ENM have struck a global strategic partnership that will see the pair co-develop and co-finance scripted series and movies, while Paramount+ will launch in South Korea next year.

EXCLUSIVE: A trio of Korean unscripted formats are heading to the U.S. and international marketplace after Korean company Something Special struck a deal with Breaking Borders producer My Entertainment.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorViacomCBS and South Korea’s CJ ENM announced global content deal encompasses coproductions for original TV shows and films as well as content licensing and distribution across the companies’ streaming services.Also under the pact, the companies will launch Paramount Plus in South Korea in 2022 as an exclusive bundle with CJ ENM’s TVING streaming service — marking its first launch in Asia.News of the deal comes less than a month after CJ ENM paid nearly $1 billion

Naman Ramachandran The Indian arm of Sony is planning to produce local content that has the potential to travel globally.Speaking at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum and Market on Friday, Vivek Krishnani, MD at Sony Pictures Entertainment Films India, said: “We are strongly focusing on creating Indian IPs, which can crossover into the mainstream and therefore, to that extent, some of the content that we’re creating for certain OTT [streaming] platforms, does have the ability to appeal to audiences,

Oh! My Gran is set to hit Chinese theatres this Friday (December 3), becoming the first Korean film to be screened in the nation in six years since 2015’s Assassination, starring Jun Ji-hyun (Legend Of The Blue Sea, Jirisan) and Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game, The Housemaid).Oh! My Gran, which first premiered in 2020, stars actress Na Moon-hee as the film’s lead character of Moon-hee, an elderly woman who believes she is a princess in an animated series, but is actually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

MONSTA X has opened up about how its like to record music in English.In a recent interview with Forbes, the singer discussed the process of recording a full-length album completely in English, in light of their upcoming sophomore English album ‘The Dreaming’, which arrives on December 10.“It was very easy,” he said, when asked about the difficulty of performing in a third language, compared to Korean and Japanese.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Despite being one of the most well-known faces in Asia, acting never gets easier for South Korean superstar Gianna Jun.“I feel like I climbed the mountain 1,000 times,” she said about filming her latest series, “Jirisan.”Jun plays Seo Yi-Gang, a mountain ranger at Jirisan, a mountain located about four hours south of central Seoul.