KARA reunite to celebrate 15th anniversary

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area” has become Netflix’s latest Korean-made international hit. The Korean remake of “La Casa de Papel” (aka “Money Heist”) is in first place on the streaming giant’s Global Non-English top ten chart over the last week.The series premiered on Friday (June 24), meaning that it only had three days to claim its spot in chart that covers the period June 20-26.

Hallyu is an invented term used to describe the rising global popularity of Korean culture, but it also has never been more applicable in Hollywood than at this moment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” flew to the top of the box office charts in South Korea over the weekend, with a supersonic $9.6 million opening loop. It replaced “The Witch: Part 2 The Other One,” which had been top dog for only a week.Tom Cruise, a regular visitor to Korea, jetted into Seoul with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-stars Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Greg Tarzan Davis to goose the movie’s takeoff in the country. Cruise professed himself grateful for the fan’s warm reception and talked up the importance of in-person visits to the cinema.Sub-distributed in Korea by Lotte Entertainment, the film opened on Wednesday and played on more than 1,900 screens.

EXCLUSIVE: Industry tech provider Deluxe has appointed former Netflix Korea exec Samantha Kim to the role of Managing Director, Business Development, APAC.

The cast of Top Gun: Maverick gathers together on the red carpet for a group shot at the premiere event held at Lotte World on Sunday (June 19) in Seoul, Korea.

William Earl Organizers of KCON have unveiled the initial talent lineup for the 10th anniversary edition of the celebration of K-pop and other aspects of South Korean pop culture.The three-day event, presented by Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM, in Los Angeles will feature performances and fan showcase events around K-pop acts Cravity, Enhyphen, Itzy, Nmixx, Stayc, the Boyz and WJSN.The gathering is set for Aug. 19-21 at Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNat Geo’s “SharkFest” is turning 10 and marking the occasion by enlisting sister Disney brands ABC, ESPN and Hulu to help air its largest programming slate ever across the most platforms it has ever been on, Variety has learned exclusively.While “SharkFest” aired during a six-week period last year, making the 2021 edition the longest “SharkFest” ever, that lineup was limited to Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney XD and Disney+.This time around, Nat Geo is putting out nearly 30 hours of new content and 60 hours of “enhanced” programming over four weeks beginning July 10, its most-packed “SharkFest” schedule on record. And that increased content load is spread out not just across Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney XD and Disney+, but also broadcast network ABC, cabler ESPN and streamer Hulu, making it an historic occasion for the decade-old fin-tastic event.

Paramount+ has expanded into South Korea, marking the first time the streaming service is available in Asia, Paramount announced Wednesday.Starting now, subscribers of South Korea-based streaming platform Tving will be able to stream Paramount+ content at no additional cost. This includes Paramount+ originals “Halo,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “1883” along with shows from Paramount-owned Showtime including “Yellowjackets” and “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” all of which are available in Korea for the first time.The deal is part of a global partnership between Paramount and CJ ENM, which co-owns Tving, and will also see seven Korean original shows distributed on Paramount+.The first production to launch as part of that partnership is the upcoming series “Yonder,” set to launch on Tving in late 2022 and on Paramount+ where the services is available.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Paramount+ streaming service launches Thursday in South Korea as a free-of-charge addition to the CJ ENM-controlled TVing platform.Paramount+ originals such as “Halo,” in addition to “Yellowjackets,” “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “1883” will be released for the first time in Korea, exclusively through the new branded zone. It will also provide access to library movie titles including “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun,” and “Transformers,” CBS series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “NCIS,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Comedy Central’s “South Park,” MTV’s young adult series and others from Showtime.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentBack in Japan after his Korean-language drama “Broker” won two prizes at this year’s Cannes festival, Kore-eda Hirokazu appeared as a press event in Tokyo on Tuesday to announce the launch of a group of industry professionals who aim for structural reform of the Japanese film industry.The group calls itself the “Association for the Establishment of a Japanese Version of CNC.” The reference is to France’s government-backed oversight body, the Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee. Kore-eda noted the low incomes and long working hours of freelance filmmakers and emphasized the need for reform.

KARA are reportedly in talks to record new music to celebrate the act’s 15th anniversary.Today (June 14), several South Korean news outlets reported that the former members of KARA had met up to discuss the possibility of reuniting as a group to release new music in lieu of their 15th anniversary.“I heard that they met frequently for discussion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Broker,” the art house drama film that appeared in competition in Cannes last month had a bright start in Korean cinemas, picking up over $6 million in its opening foray. Its score, however, was not enough to unseat mainstream crime actioner “The Roundup” from the weekend’s top spot.“Broker” earned $4.13 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That put it second behind “The Roundup” with a weekend score of $6.69 million.

Justice have shared an original demo of their 2007 hit ‘D.A.N.C.E’ to mark the 15th anniversary of their debut album.The French dance duo’s first full-length LP ‘†’ came out 15 years ago yesterday (June 11, 2007).To celebrate, they’ve released an EP of multiple remixes, extended versions and demos of ‘D.A.N.C.E.’, their biggest hit.The only unreleased track on the compilation is an original demo of the track, which you can listen to below.Last year, Justice became involved in a legal spat with Justin Bieber. The cover for Bieber’s sixth record ‘Justice’, which arrived back in March 2021, references the pop star’s Christian faith by using a crucifix-style “T” in the title.Fans soon began noticing the similarities between the logo and that of French dance duo, who have used the font since 2003.

Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart have celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in style. The pair married back in 2007 in an intimate ceremony in La Cervara, Italy, and the couple look happier than ever 15 years later. In a sweet post on Penny's Instagram account, it showed the 77-year-old rock star with his model wife, 51, posing in front of a fancy stairwell before a dinner.The couple are celebrating the occasion slightly earlier than expected, however, with the official anniversary not until next Thursday.

SZA has shared a deluxe edition of her lauded 2017 album ‘Ctrl’ to celebrate its fifth anniversary today (June 9).The singer’s critically acclaimed debut album remains her only record to date, and the expanded edition was teased earlier this week ahead of its anniversary.The new edition includes an alternate version of ‘Ctrl’ track and Travis Scott collaboration ‘Love Galore’, alongside previously unreleased tracks called ‘2AM’, ‘Miles’, ‘Percolator’, ‘Tread Carefully’, ‘Awkward’ and ‘Jodie’.In a new tweet today, SZA hinted that even more music may come this week, telling fans: “What isn’t on deluxe maybe on SoundCloud as well tomorrow? Deciding. Spring cleaning old thoughts.”What isn’t on deluxe maybe on SoundCloud as well tomorrow? Deciding .

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korean TV network MBN is to give a weekly primetime slot this summer to a localized version of studio-based reality show “Mystery Duets.”The concept sees the nation’s most famous singers and celebrities perform a duet without knowing with whom they share the stage. It is only in the middle of the song that they discover each other’s identity as the screen between them rises.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Jurassic World: Dominion” scored the third highest opening weekend of the year in South Korea, but still managed only second place at the box office, a further sign of recovery in the country.For the third weekend in a row, proceedings were dominated by local crime action film “The Roundup.” It earned $10.4 million over the Friday to Sunday period, down 32% from its previous weekend, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). After nearly three weeks on release, the film has an accumulated total of $73.3 million.Its cumulative total is built on 8.87 million spectators.