Korea Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Limps to Fourth Place Debut

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Amazon-owned Prime Video has launched “The Killing Vote,” a hardboiled crime drama series from Korea. The 12-part show uses the premise that a text message is sent to ordinary citizens who get to vote for or against the application of the death penalty in individual criminal cases. If more than 50% vote in favor, the criminal is killed by a mysterious character called Dog Mask.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new drama film by “Drive My Car” director Hamaguchi Ryusuke, has been picked up for North American release by Sideshow and Janus Films. The title will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice festival before playing as a special presentation in Toronto and the main slate of the New York Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films, which acquired all North American rights, expect to release the film in theaters after a run of top festivals.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix is further expanding its slate of unscripted TV content from Japan, its most lucrative market in East Asia. The new shows cover the reality, variety and dating genres. “We’re excited to move into a new phase of our content strategy, ramping up our investments in unscripted and bringing new concepts to the screen.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe Corp., the Korean pop music giant behind BTS, has further expanded the scale of its empire by buying out its partner in Belift Lab, the firm backing another K-pop powerhouse Enhypen. The company said that it has signed an agreement to acquire CJ ENM’s 51.5% stake in Belift. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe, the Korean music and entertainment firm, achieved record revenues in the first half of the year as album sales climbed and live performances took off. This was achieved despite the hiatus being forced on BTS, the company’s most famous K-pop act, by its band members’ military enlistment. On Tuesday, Suga, who had his first solo music tour earlier this year, became the third member of BTS to begin his compulsory military service.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ryu Seung-wan’s female-led crime caper “Smugglers” topped the South Korean box office for a second weekend, ahead of new release title “Ransomed.” “Smugglers” enjoyed a strong hold in its second weekend of release and commanded 42% market share. It delivered $7.09 million, a drop of only 20% on its opening weekend, giving a 12-day cumulative of $26.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

call a halt to the “Barbenheimer” hashtag that has helped make the film a global blockbusters.“Barbie”, which stars Margot Robbie in the title role, has grossed more than $800 million in worldwide box office, while the film about nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer that opened around the same time last month has taken in more than $400 million.Warner Bros initially latched on to fan-produced memes that depicted Robbie’s Barbie with actor Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer alongside images of nuclear blasts.But fans were not amused in Japan, which in coming days will mark the memorials of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago.“If one were to create an illustration or derivative art of Barbenheimer, it should not be of Barbie delighting in a mushroom cloud,” said Koji Maruyama on the Change.org website.

Barbie and Oppenheimer, with some sharing 9/11 memes in response.On Twitter/X, Warner Bros. previously responded to a mockup image of Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer carrying Margot Robbie’s Barbie on his shoulders while surrounded by the flames of an atomic explosion.In response to the image, Warner Bros.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Upcoming female-led mystery-thriller series “Mask Girl” sees an unassuming office worker secretly rise the heights as a popular, masked online model and, in a downward spiral, become Prisoner #1047. Seemingly repentant, she secretly plots her escape. The Korean-produced show employs three different actors Ko Hyun-jang, Nana and a yet-to-be-revealed newcomer to represent the Kim Mo-mi character in her different evolutions.Netflix will Thursday drop a trailer and three separate posters intended to create intrigue as to Kim’s real nature, ahead of the series’ Aug.

Thania Garcia NewJeans’s latest release, the six-song EP “Get Up,” becomes the Korean all-female group’s first No. 1 and first-ever entry on the albums chart with the equivalent of 126,500 albums sold in the United States. With 500 more units, the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” blockbuster would’ve logged a tie for the top slot.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese anime series took four of the top ten places in streaming service Netflix’s latest global chart of non-English-language shows. The top title of the week July 24-30 was Brazilian teen crime drama series “Sintonia,” in its fourth season. Japanese animation series have long been key audience drivers in Japan and other parts of Asia.

reports the South China Morning Post.The fan-made poster, which was originally uploaded last month by the account DiscussingFilms on X (formerly Twitter), showed Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer holding Margot Robbie’s Barbie in front of a mushroom cloud. Japanese users were further aggravated when the official US account for the Barbie film commented on the post, writing that “it’s gonna be a summer to remember.” Since the comment controversy, the hashtag “#NoBarbenheimer” has been trending on social media.

Barbenheimer memes that feature atom bomb images.The apology follows Warner Bros. Japan calling its US counterpart’s behaviour “extremely regrettable”, and also said sorry to fans on its behalf.The Barbenheimer craze, which has resulted in millions around the world watching the two blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer back-to-back in an ironic double bill dubbed “Barbenheimer”, has drawn criticism in Japan for making light of the mass destruction caused by the atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The Barbie US Twitter account (@barbiethemovie) responded to one Barbenheimer fan art poster that depicts Margot Robbie’s Barbie sitting on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy’s J.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asia Contents Awards, held as part of the Busan International Film Festival since 2019, is to join forces with the Global OTT Awards to form a wider-reaching event. The merged events are to be known under the ungainly abbreviation ACA & G.OTT Awards and will be co-hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City authorities. The ceremony will be held in Busan on Sunday Oct.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Warner Bros. Japan released a statement on the country’s official “Barbie” Twitter account criticizing the studio’s U.S. branch for feeding into the “Barbenheimer” craze on social media.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief There is female empowerment in Korean cinemas, but it is coming more from local characters, than global hit “Barbie.” Female-led crime action film “Smugglers” dominated the weekend at the South Korean box office and pushed aside “Mission: impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” which had headed the chart for the previous two sessions. “Smugglers” earned $9.31 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic), giving it a nearly 54% market share. Over its full five opening days, the film has built up a cumulative total of $13.1 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wonyoung from IVE will MC the Friday night first concert at this year’s K-pop convention KCON LA in Los Angeles on Aug. 18. Veteran performer Rain will host the Saturday performances, while Bang Chan from Stray Kids will introduce a third and final night of performances.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief While “Barbie” was romping to box office records in North American and scoring strongly in many international territories, the pink phenomenon could muster only fifth place in China, the world’s second largest movie market, on its opening weekend. “Barbie” managed $8.2 million in its opening three days, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Local box office sources show the film trapped in that position on all three days of the weekend session, as the locally-produced titles jostled for leadership and swapped positions. Somewhat encouragingly, the daily score for “Barbie” had increased by Sunday as it was given more screening sessions by Chinese exhibitors.

 press tour on a high note. For the VIP photo call following the European movie premiere, Robbie swapped her luxe fur stole-adorned Vivienne Westwood gown for a slinky red mini dress, and it just might be her best red carpet look yet.You might be thinking: What about the glittering black Solo in the Spotlight Barbie replica dress Robbie wore to the LA premiere? Or the pink Day-to-Night Barbie look she wore in South Korea? But there's something magical about a simple, sexy mini dress that blows the other looks out of the water.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean TV series and films are increasing still further their hold on streaming audiences across East Asia. They accounted for half of viewing time in the first half of the year, according to new third-party research. Korean-made premium VOD content captured 50% of SVOD viewership and 42% of freemium viewership between January and June 2023, with a record 58 million VOD users tuning in nine East Asian territories (Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam), according to Singapore-based research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. The analysis is based on the measured media consumption activity of 40,000 Asia Pacific consumers, conducted by AMPD, the analysis firm’s sister company.