Hybe Achieves Record First Quarter Financials, Despite BTS Hiatus

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast & Furious 10” (aka “Fast X”) drove off with the top prize at the South Korean box office on its opening weekend. It earned $4.99 million between Friday and Saturday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And over its full five-day run, from a Wednesday opening, it earned $6.76 million. Kobis showed the film claiming a 48% market share. The speedy start for “Fast X” was enough to depose “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” which had ridden atop the Korean chart for the two previous weekends. In its third weekend on release “GOTG 3” earned $3.04 million, a 48% week-on-week decline, giving it a cumulative of $26.9 million after 19 days on release in Korea. That is the fourth highest total for any film that has played in Korean cinemas this year.

Members of One Direction have reportedly met up to record new music for the first time in seven years. The record-breaking boy bands called it quits in 2015, five years after shooting to fame on The X Factor. Originally Louis Tomlinson, 31, Niall Horan, 29, Harry Styles, 29, Liam Payne, 29, and Zayn Malik, 30, all auditioned as solo artists on the singing competition, but it was the brains of Simon Cowell that saw their potential as a group.

In a bold reaction to market trends, Korean entertainment powerhouse HYBE Corporation — best known as the home of K-Pop superstars BTS — is more bullish than ever, expanding out of its core record label, talent management and concert production business into several other areas, and now bills itself as a global entertainment lifestyle platform.

Bre Tiesi is ready to welcome viewers into her world. ET's Brice Sander spoke with 's newest star, and she opened up about joining Netflix's hit reality series.«I think I feel pretty good,» she said ahead of the show's season 6 premiere. "… I live my life outwardly and proud.

www.Inclusionlist.org, The Inclusion List is a new, data-driven ranking that provides the 100 most inclusive theatrical releases from 2019 to 2022. Topping the list among all such movies was Gina Prince-Bythewood’s acclaimed and crowd-pleasing “The Woman King.” The Inclusion List, appearing at www.inclusionlist.org, is a new data-driven ranking that provides the titles of the 100 most inclusive theatrically released films from 2019 to 2022.

When it was announced the Lovejoy - the Brighton-based four piece indie-rock band formed of Will Gold, Joe Goldsmith, Ash Kabosu and Mark Boardman - were heading for their first-ever UK Top 10 entry on the Official Albums Chart this week, there seemed to be one sentiment across their fans on social media; their 'little band' wasn't so little anymore.

Six months after the landmark debut of its ad-supported subscription tier, Netflix said the plan has hit 5 million monthly active users globally.

Fred Sirieix has detailed how fronting Channel 4's First Dates, which celebrates a 10 year milestone this year, has made him re-evaluate what is truly important in life during a chat with New this week. “Everyone is different and yet we’re all the same. We’re all looking for that respect and acceptance,” he says.

But for now, it seems that Jessica has had enough of the spotlight, revealing the hidden toll her time in the public domain has taken on her mental health. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief iQiyi, the Chinese video streamer that began a turnaround last year, reported further growth in profits in the first quarter of 2023. It said that daily subscription numbers had grown by 17 million in the past three months. Total revenues were RMB8.3 billion ($1.2 billion), increasing 15% year over year, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that covered the January to March period. Net income attributable to iQIYI was RMB618 million ($90.0 million), compared to net income attributable to iQIYI of RMB169 million in the same period in 2022. The average daily number of subscribing members, excluding trial memberships, for the quarter was 128.1 million, compared to 100.8 million for the same period in 2022 and 110.9 million for the fourth quarter in 2022. Subscription revenue per user was little changed at RMB14.35 ($2.07).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Apple’s revenue declined again in the March 2023 quarter, marking its second consecutive quarterly drop in sales. But the tech giant topped Wall Street forecasts, with its services business hitting a new record for revenue and iPhone sales up 1.5%. The company reported revenue of $94.8 billion, down 3%, and net income of $24.2 billion (or $1.52 per share) for the quarter ended April 1, which is Apple’s Q2 of fiscal 2023. Financial analysts expected revenue of $92.96 billion and earnings of $1.43 per share for the quarter, per Refinitiv data. Apple’s Services revenue rose 5.5%, to $20.9 billion, just a hair above $20.8 billion for the year-end 2022 quarter. The segment includes the App Store, Apple Pay, and subscription services such as Apple TV+, Apple Music and iCloud.

Paramount Global fell way shy of Wall Street forecasts with ongoing losses in streaming exacerbated by soft advertising at its TV/Media group last quarter and a dip in filmed entertainment as well. The stock is down sharply — about 14% — in early trading

The Electric Mayhem Band from The Muppets are heading to Disney+ for a brand new series!

Zendaya reflected on her first date and revealed a Spider-Man connection that seems almost prophetic while onstage at 2023 CinemaCon.

A 'stylish' blazer from Matalan has got shoppers talking as it’s said to be a reasonably priced dupe of one by French luxury fashion house Chanel. Fashion lovers who have bought the blazer were obsessed with its 'classic' look - and it costs just £36.

FIFTY FIFTY have signed a new partnership with American label Warner Records.The new partnership comes shortly after FIFTY FIFTY went viral on TikTok with their sophomore single ‘Cupid’. The English version of the song, also known as the ‘Twin Ver.’, has since peaked at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.“We are grateful to Warner Records for the opportunity to discuss innovative ways to bring FIFTY FIFTY to the forefront of the music industry,” said Sung-il Ahn, co-CEO of FIFTY FIFTY’s label ATTRAKT, per Billboard.“We are thrilled to find that our thoughts and visions align with an artist-centered approach, and we are eager to explore potential avenues for success together,” he added.Meanwhile, Warner Records’ COO Tom Corson and CEO Aaron Bay-schuk said: “We are thrilled to partner with FIFTY FIFTY to amplify their global smash single ‘Cupid’ and we know there is much more to come.”The duo, who are also co-chairmen of the American record label, added that the Warner Records team are “excited to create additional opportunities for this powerhouse K-pop girl group”.In a statement, FIFTY FIFTY said that they are “honoured to be working with Warner Records, and we are excited to see what the future holds for us.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift is looking at becoming the first artist to have an exclusive Record Store Day release enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart when the next results are reported this coming weekend. That’s because nearly all 75,000 domestic copies of her RSD-exclusive double-LP, “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” are believed to have sold through within a day of having gone on sale Saturday. Even though the 75,000 copies of “Long Pond Studio Sessions” issued in the U.S. was almost four times as many copies as any RSD release has been issued with before, it was no surprise that it was a hot enough commodity to sell out in a day. The 115,000 copies that went out globally are said to be the only pressing the album will ever receive. While that might be a high quantity for anybody else, it’s worth remembering that Swift’s previous album, “Midnights,” sold about 400,000 copies in its first day out — and that was without the promise that it would never be available again.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Vivendi, the parent company of French pay TV banner Canal+ Group,has sees revenues rise by 3.3% to €2.29 billion ($2.52 billion) during the first quarter of 2023. Vivendi attributes the growth to all its subsidiaries, in particular Studiocanal, the film and TV production and distribution company of Canal+, whose revenues went up by 13.6% compared with the first quarter of 2022 driven by the success of several films, including the comedy “Alibi.com 2” and “John Wick 4.” Among the several high profile deals signed by the company during the first quarter, Canal+ inked an agreement with French telco Orange to acquire all shares of its pay TV package OCS, as well as Orange Studio, the film and series co-production subsidiary.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global cinema box office recovered strongly in the first three months of the year, driven by the performance of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in many territories and a bumper Chinese New Year season in mainland China. The upbeat news was delivered on the eve of CinemaCon Las Vegas by specialist research firm Gower Street Analytics, which has now increased its forecast of the cinema industry’s full year. The firm now projects that 2023 gross revenues will reach $32 billion, a 10% increase on its earlier estimate of $29 billion. “A $32 billion global box office in 2023 would represent an approximate +23% improvement on 2022. It remains 20% behind an average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019), but it shows how post-pandemic recovery of our business continues to improve,” said Gower Street.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jung Ho-seok, better known as J-Hope, Tuesday became the second member of K-pop sensation BTS to join the Korean military. Approaching his 30th birthday, J-Hope attended an army camp at Wongju, south of Seoul, and is expected to begin five weeks of basic training there. Local news agencies reported a small crowd of fans, seemingly outnumbered by assembled journalists, waited outside the camp to wish him well. Their number was reported to be diminished by bad weather. Earlier, J-Hope had posted on the Weverse fandom platform words of encouragement and a pair of photos revealing his newly-shorn hair. “I love you all. ARMY, I will return safely,” he wrote. ‘Army’ in that sense is a reference to BTS’s legion of fans, rather than the Korean military services.