Former Atlas EVP Andy Horwitz Launches Producing Collective Big Swell Entertainment

Lee Jihan is dead following the Seoul, South Korea stampede tragedy.

South Korea’s entertainment industry has postponed several events in the wake of the tragic crowd surge that killed more than 150 people in Seoul’s Itaewon district on Saturday night. The country is in a week-long period of mourning. 

Big Brother season 24 winner Taylor Hale came forward with allegations that former Miss USA vice president Max Sebrechts sexually harassed her the morning after the November 2021 pageant.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Bridge After Dark has launched worldwide sales on the horror thriller Natty Knocks from director Dwight Little (Halloween 4). The film will be presented to buyers at AFM next month. 

SF Studios Acquires Johan Rundberg’s ‘Moonwind & Hoff’ Book SeriesSF Studios has acquired the film rights to Johan Rundberg’s book series Moonwind & Hoff. The series includes the novels The Night Raven, The Queen of Thieves, The Angel of Death, and The Blood Pact. The Night Raven is the first novel that will be adapted, produced, and distributed by SF Studios. The film is expected to start shooting at the beginning of 2024 with a theatrical release in 2025. Stefan H. Lindén and Alexandra Thönnersten, producers at SF Studios, said: “The Night Raven and the entire series about Moonwind & Hoff are exactly in the realm of magical realism that we both dreamed of producing. In many ways, both the world and the characters feel inspiring and exciting. We want to create a grand series of films that can enthrall cinema audiences.”

BLACKPINK have opened their world tour in Seoul where bandmember Jennie treated fans to a performance of an unreleased solo song – see footage, setlist and more below.The K-pop band kicked off their tour, which is in promotion of their second album ‘Born Pink’, on Saturday (October 15) at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in South Korea. BLACKPINK play another show at the venue today (October 16) before heading to North America for a series of concerts.Bandmembers Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa will then visit Europe to finish off 2022.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Eric Welbers, who served as managing director of the production company NDF until the end of March, has set up the internationally focused content company Bravado Media, with headquarters in Munich. Bravado has acquired all of NDF’s shares in Italy’s Viola Film (an 80% stake), headed by Alessandro Passadore, and Belgium-based Bravado Fiction (also an 80% stake), headed by Jan Theys, and Welbers is increasing his stake in NDF Intl. Production, which he will continue to run together with Matthias Walter. The new company will make its first market appearance at next week’s trade fair for audiovisual content Mipcom in Cannes.

MAMAMOO have announced the first concerts for their forthcoming ‘MY CON’ world tour.The tour and kick-off concerts were first announced via the K-pop girl group’s social media channels yesterday (October 12). Dubbed the ‘MY CON’ world tour, MAMAMOO’s global trek will begin with a three-night residency at Seoul’s Olympic Park Olympic Hall from November 18 to 20.Fanclub pre-sales for tickets are slated to begin on October 19 at 8pm KST and close on October 20 at 11:59pm KST.

Michelle Obama announced an exciting opportunity for aspiring publishing writers. The author of “Becoming” took to social media to share a literary honor under the name Michelle Obama Award for Memoir.The Obama prize will award a $10,000 college scholarship to a high school senior studying in a public school for their autobiographical English-language composition.“I know firsthand how nerve-wracking it can be to share the most intimate stories from your life with the world,” Obama said in a statement released by Penguin Random House.“But after publishing my memoir ‘Becoming,’ I’ve learned that writing your own story can be a powerful tool.

EXCLUSIVE: Seoul- and Los Angeles-based Bound Entertainment (Apple’s Dr Brain) is teaming with author Ann Liang to develop her genre-bending YA debut novel, If You Could See the Sun as a series.  

Former Coronation Street star Chris Fountain has said he was left “speaking like a toddler” after suffering a mini-stroke. The actor, who played Tommy Duckworth in the ITV soap, revealed he spent five days in a London hospital after waking up at home unable to speak properly in August.

Rebecca Souw TITLE: Behind The Scenes For Singapore-Korea Co-Production “Ajoomma” And Its Journey Ahead Post-Busan The past few weeks have gone by in a blur for Singapore-Korean co-produced comedy film “Ajoomma.” In a short span, it had a world premiere at the 27th Busan International Film Festival, earned four Golden Horse nominations including best actress, best new director, best original screenplay and best supporting actor. And Singapore has selected the film as itOscars contender. But it took seven years to get his far. At a Busan workshop on Saturday, first-time director He Shuming, co-founder of Giraffe Pictures and the film’s executive producer Anthony Chen and co-producer Lee Joon-han discussed the how the film came to life. “Ajoomma: The Curious Case Study of a Singaporean-Korean Co-production” was presented by mylab at the Asian Contents & Film Market.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In what plays like Singapore’s answer to “About Schmidt,” never-too-late-to-live dramedy “Ajoomma” follows a widowed housewife as she steps out of her comfort zone by making a solo trip to South Korea. This upbeat debut from director He Shuming — whose title is the Korean equivalent of all-purpose Asian term of respect “Auntie” — offers longtime TV actor Hong Huifang (“Housewives’ Holiday”) a chance to shine in the title role, which has already netted her a Golden Horse Award nom. Selected to rep Singapore at the Oscars, affable “Ajoomma” is more of a dark horse in that race, albeit one with art-house sleeper potential. Mrs. Lim’s life is light on excitement. What it lacks in drama, she fills by binging on Korean soap operas — a not at all uncommon obsession among Asian women (and a growing number of Americans, thanks to services like Kocowa and Viki). “Auntie,” as most of the other characters call Hong’s character, fusses a bit too much over her only son, who long ago agreed to accompany her on a special tour of Seoul. Now, mere days before they’re to depart, he backs out for a job interview in New York — one that would put some much-needed distance between the closeted young man and his overly suffocating mom.

The producers of Kim Kardashian's new true-crime podcast have insisted they contacted victims. On Monday, the first episode of the reality TV star's The System: The Case of Kevin Keith debuted on Spotify. The podcast explores the life of convicted murderer Kevin Keith and makes a case for his release from prison, however, two of Keith's alleged victims - Quanita and Quentin Reeves - have spoken out against the project, claiming that they were not contacted before it premiered.

Rebecca Souw “Bogota: City of the Lost,” one of the most expensive Korean films ever made, heads the sales slate presented at Busan by Megabox Plus M, part of Korea’s J Contentree listed company. Crime noir, “Bogota” took 21 months to produce and saw its principal photography start in January 2020 but soon become a victim of COVID. Song Joong Ki (“Space Sweepers”) stars as a young man moving to Colombia with his family for a better life, but he ends up living from hand to mouth. He later goes against all odds to dominate Bogota’s black market. The picture also stars Lee Hee-jun (“The Drug King”) and was directed by Kim Seong-je (“The Unfair”).

A historic former primary school is back on the market — just a year after being flogged by South Ayrshire Council.

Kim Kardashian's podcast producers denied claims made by two surviving victims of the Kevin Keith murders that they weren't contacted prior to the release of her first episode of "The System," a new series highlighting advocacy in criminal justice reform. Keith was arrested in February 1994 in Ohio in the killings of Marichell Chatman, her daughter Marchae and Linda Chatman.  He was convicted of three counts of aggravated murder despite no physical evidence tying him to the crime and has been in jail 28 years.

North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday morning local time, just two days after Pyongyang sent an intermediate-range ballistic missile flying over Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.  About 40 missiles have been launched by North Korea this year, including six in the past two weeks, but Tuesday's test marked the first time in five years that the country has sent a missile over Japan.  The U.S. and South Korea staged joint drills on Wednesday in response, with the USS Ronald Reagan moving into waters east of South Korea.

Anne Heche‘s ex-husband James Tupper has filed paperwork in court to become the legal guardian of their 13-year-old son, Atlas Heche Tupper.

Phil Oppenheim, who has held senior exec posts at Epix, Lionsgate and Turner, has been named chief content officer at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.