International Insider: What’s In A Phrase?; Indian Sci-Fi Epic; Netflix On Korea Path

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” leaped to a crushing first place debut at the South Korean box office on its opening weekend. The American animation film earned $12.3 million from 1.75 million ticket sales between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Over the five days since its Wednesday debut, it accumulated $14.7 million and 2.08 million ticket sales.

Good afternoon Insiders. We’ve been all over Europe this week, so here’s Max Goldbart, back in the London-shaped saddle, to walk you through the major stories of the past seven days. Scroll on. And sign up here.

KATSEYE is coming!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French shark movie “Under Paris” made a sneak attack on worldwide streaming last week, scoring the best launch for a non-English language film on Netflix with 41 million views in its five first days on the service. Dropping a month before the start of the summer Olympics in Paris, the movie about triathlon athletes who get devoured during a swimming race in the Seine river ranked first on Netflix’s top 10 for non-English language films across 93 countries.

Sweet Home – read on for everything you need to know about the hit series’ upcoming instalment, from plot and cast to trailers and more.Season one of the apocalyptic horror series introduced viewers and fans to the chilling world of Korean creatures and monster of folklore and mythology, as seen through the eyes of Hyun-su. When a strange monster plague breaks out and causes the downfall of society, he is forced to work together with the co-habitants of his apartment complex in order to survive.Season two picked up where it left off by expanding the universe and exploring deeper themes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” a hit in multiple other markets worldwide, crashed on its first lap at the South Korean box office. It failed to make even $1 million in on its opening weekend. Instead, “Wonderland,” a sci-fi fantasy about Artificial Intelligence, took the top spot over the weekend.

Refresh for latest…: Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die pummeled pre-weekend opening projections, coming in with a $104.6M global bow, including $48.6M from the international box office. While the overseas debut is slightly off 2020’s Bad Boys for Life which did $50.3M in like-for-like offshore markets at today’s exchange rates, that film had strong legs. Either way, Ride or Die‘s start gave some much needed oomph to summer turnstiles. Its launch is 58% bigger than Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock coming to you from Seriencamp in Germany this week. Strap in for the top TV and film news from the international sector this week. And sign up here.

Lexi Carson Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its second wave of titles, which includes Ant Timpson’s “Bookworm” as the opening night film. This year’s edition, the 28th for the festival, will run from July 18 to August 4.

There are plenty of new K-dramas coming to Netflix!

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” maintained a narrow win at the South Korea weekend box office in its second week of release. The highest new release was local crime drama “The Plot.” Total weekend revenues in Korean cinemas were a modest $8.91 million. That figure keeps a post-COVID recovery on course, but progress is slow and incomplete.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix‘s latest original is a Japanese series adaptation of 2011 French film Les Émotifs Anonymes (Romantics Anonymous).

Noah Centineo‘s Owen Hendricks will be back for the second season of The Recruit. But who else will join him?

The Whirlwind, starring Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Hee-ae. Read on for all you need to know about the plot, cast and premiere date of The Whirlwind.According to Netflix, The Whirlwind will follow “the colossal clash between the prime minister and the deputy prime minister” of South Korea, set against a “tumultuous political landscape”.The new Netflix K-drama will star Sul Kyung-gu of A Normal Family fame as Prime Minister Park Dong-ho.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Emilia Pérez” breakout star Karla Sofía Gascón, who won the best actress prize at Cannes Film Festival alongside Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz, has filed a complaint against French far-right politician Marion Marechal alleging “sexist insult due to one’s gender identity.” The charges stem from a post on X in which Marechal, who is currently campaigning in European elections for the far-right Reconquête party, wrote upon Gascón’s win at Cannes that “it is therefore a man who receives in Cannes the prize for… best actress. The progress for the left wing is the erasing of women and mothers.” The vitriolic social post sparked outrage within the LGBTQ community and beyond.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two South Korean superstars Gianna Jun and Gang Dong-won head the cast of “Tempest,” an espionage action drama series being readied by streaming service Disney+ for release next year. The contemporary Korea-set story sees Jun portray a highly-accomplished diplomat and former ambassador to the U.S.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Cannes Film Festival is nearing its conclusion, with plenty of films making a splash on the starry Croisette on the French Riviera. However, one studio executive tells Variety, “There aren’t many Oscar-buzzy titles to be excited about, not even in the international feature space.” This year’s main competition jury, led by president Greta Gerwig and including J.A. Bayona, Ebru Ceylan, Pierfrancesco Favino, Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nadine Labaki and Omar Sy, will name its winners on Saturday.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock back again to take you through the week’s news in the entertainment industry, as the Cannes Film Festival nears its close.