Korea Box Office: ‘Spiritwalker’ Wins Weekend Ahead of ‘Encanto’

SEOUL, South Korea -- Anupam Tripathi said his grandfather sometimes read his palm and told him he’d be rich one day. His joking response?“Where is my money!”The 33-year-old Tripathi was rightfully doubtful.

Sonia Kil Building on the success of “Parasite,” the Korean entertainment industry has had a huge 2021. K-pop remains a worldwide phenomenon, the Korean series “Squid Game” has found passionate audiences around the world and Korean actors are taking home awards gold.South Korea’s entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM — one of the drivers of this flowering — has announced six honorees as its “Visionaries” of 2021.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe death earlier this month of Chin Doo-hwan, the most hated of South Korea’s three military dictators, who ruled for nearly a decade until 1988, is a timely reminder of the foundations of the country’s present economic might.Today, South Korea combines global prowess in electronics, semiconductors and shipbuilding (industries boosted by the old regime’s strategic plans) and in culture and services, such as entertainment, cosmetics and food.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe South Korean government is expected to reintroduce significantly stricter control measures in response to a rising wave of COVID-19 cases. Film releases are expected to be affected.The government eased its restrictions at the beginning of November as part of a living with COVID policy.

Space has long been the go-to location for sci-fi projects and it’s easy to see why. A void that is cold, dark, and deadly, outer space thrives as much on the unknown as it does known variables.

EXCLUSIVE: Simon Cowell’s ITV format Walk The Line has started attracting interest from global buyers, according to exec producer Lee McNicholas, who praised South Korean entertainment shows for “ripping up the rulebook” and “forcing us to re-examine the way we approach formats.” Distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment is in conversation with several territories over the sale of six-parter, McNicholas said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Aloners,” a critically-acclaimed debut feature about loneliness, is set to receive a theatrical release in North America in early 2022.

ViacomCBS and CJ ENM have struck a global strategic partnership that will see the pair co-develop and co-finance scripted series and movies, while Paramount+ will launch in South Korea next year.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorViacomCBS and South Korea’s CJ ENM announced global content deal encompasses coproductions for original TV shows and films as well as content licensing and distribution across the companies’ streaming services.Also under the pact, the companies will launch Paramount Plus in South Korea in 2022 as an exclusive bundle with CJ ENM’s TVING streaming service — marking its first launch in Asia.News of the deal comes less than a month after CJ ENM paid nearly $1 billion

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” crept into the background at the South Korean box office over the weekend, as the top three films remained unchanged.Nationwide aggregate revenue was a lowly $5.06 million as audiences avoided cinemas ahead of new health restrictions.Cinemas, along with bars, restaurants, gyms and museums, are among the high-risk places affected by a new tightening of health measures in Korea, intended to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the

SEOUL, South Korea -- Despite being one of the most well-known faces in Asia, acting never gets easier for South Korean superstar Gianna Jun.“I feel like I climbed the mountain 1,000 times,” she said about filming her latest series, “Jirisan.”Jun plays Seo Yi-Gang, a mountain ranger at Jirisan, a mountain located about four hours south of central Seoul.

(G)I-DLE member Soyeon has gone viral for comments she made on the first episode of the new Korean talent reality series My Teenage Girl.Over the weekend, South Korean television network MBC aired the first episode of its new TV talent competition My Teenage Girl.

Hallyu wave.According to Yonhap News Agency, Korea World is a metaverse (simply put, a persistent online 3D world) that will feature an exhibit hall with articles and videos created by foreigners who are interested in the Hallyu wave, also known as the Korean wave.

Naman Ramachandran A man who smuggled copies of smash hit South Korean Netflix series “Squid Game” into North Korea has been sentenced to death, after authorities caught high school students watching the show, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).U.S.-headquartered independent news agency RFA reported, quoting sources, that the series was smuggled in from China on USB flash drives and that the smuggler faces death by firing squad.“A student who bought a drive received a life sentence, while six

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBox office takings in South Korea retreated over the weekend, despite a local film taking the top spot. This year has seen a dearth of local movies releasing in cinemas, though that shortage may be reversed in the coming months.Local comedy drama film “Perhaps Love” was the biggest film of the weekend.

Escape From Mogadishu, Korea’s submission to this year’s International Feature Oscar race, tells the harrowing true story of North and South Koreans caught in the middle of a brutal civil war in Somalia in 1991, and how the divided nation worked together to survive the crisis in a foreign land.