Korea Box Office: Lack of New Releases Depressing Theatrical Recovery

wcinkala pmc-editorial-managerVariety will present a virtual showcase of buzzy new programs coming from Korea’s KBS, SBS and FormatEast on Nov. 12 at 9:30 a.m.

Rebecca Davis editorOn Friday, China’s Korean War epic “The Battle at Lake Changjin” became the highest-grossing film in the world for 2021, surpassing the Chinese New Year breakout comedy hit “Hi, Mom.”The gritty war film co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam has grossed $845 million (RMB5.41 billion) in 29 days, marching past “Hi, Mom,” which earned $821 million at the beginning of the year over a 90-day period.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHoldover title, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” comfortably  defeated new release “Dune” at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend.“Dune” managed to earn $2.54 million between Friday and Sunday which was equivalent to a 39% share of the total market. Over its five opening days, the sci-fi epic earned a total of $3.47 million.“Venom 2” had opened a week earlier with a $6.71 million debut that counts as strong in the current malaise.

Netflix’s new Korean drama My Name is shaping up to become another hit for the streaming platform.According to data from analytics platform FlixPatrol, the action crime series starring Han So-hee has ranked at Number Four on the charts for the top TV shows on netflix, as of October 18.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” gave a much-needed jolt to the South Korean box office with a $6.66 million opening weekend.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” loomed large at the international box office this weekend, sinking its prodigious chompers into $62.3 million. That pushes the superhero adventure’s global haul to a muscular $283.7 million.

Exception: Unless the subject is South Korea’s smash hit show Squid Game.

111 million globally since its Sept. 17 release, the Korean dystopian drama has, as to be expected, exploded into a real-life phenomenon — with weird and wacky, sometimes disappointing or occasionally dangerous results.St.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe buzz about “Squid Game” hit the radar of North Korea’s repressive socialist dictatorship, which slammed the Netflix breakout hit as proof that South Korea’s capitalist culture is a “beastly” failure.North Korean propaganda site Arirang Meari, in a report about “Squid Game,” excoriated the high-concept survival drama as depicting the “sad reality of a beastly South Korean society.”“‘Squid Game’ gained popularity because it exposes the reality of South Korean

Squid Game as criticism against “beastly” South Korean society.According to Reuters, North Korean website Arirang Meari published an article on October 12 where it reportedly said that hit series Squid Game is a reflection of South Korean society, where “corruption and immoral scoundrels are commonplace”.The article has also allegedly cited unnamed South Korean film critics, saying that they lauded Squid Game for reportedly exposing the “unequal” South Korean society, where “moneyless people

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Manori Ravindran International EditorGlobal markets can’t seem to get enough of lego.South Korea is the latest country to sign up for a local adaptation of Fox reality competition series “Lego Masters.” Distributor Banijay Rights has sold the format into leading broadcaster MBC, which will air and co-produce the hit show’s Korean debut with Los Angeles- and Seoul-based production company B&C Content.The deal will see “Lego Masters” become the only non-Korean unscripted format to air on

Rebecca Souw “Have you watched ‘Squid Game’?” is as common a question in South Korea as it is in much of the rest of the world, where it has become a breakout success for Netflix as the streamer’s biggest non-English-language series. But audiences in the show’s home country are divided over its merits.A recent on-air promotion event by K-pop girl band Itzy on KBS Cool FM radio recently deviated into a discussion of the survival show.

a recent blog post regarding its September update.“We are all riding the crest of the Korean wave, and this can be felt not only in film, music, or fashion, but also in our language, as evidenced by some of the words and phrases of Korean origin included in the latest update of the Oxford English Dictionary.”The new batch of K-related words includes entries for mukbang, “a video featuring a person eating a large quantity of food and talking to the audience,” the comic book genre manhwa and the

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJames Bond shot his way to the top spot at the South Korean box office, outgunning holdover and new release titles alike. But “No Time To Die” failed to revive Korea’s struggling theatrical market.“No Time to Die” scored $3.30 million over the weekend, grabbing a 63% or nearly two thirds share of the entire market.